An enormous crustacean that attached itself to a submarine scouring the depths of the Gulf of Mexico is eliciting shock, awe and a touch of skepticism among Web readers, but scientists say the critter is just an impressive example of a supersized species.
Photos of the beast were posted on Reddit, under the title “By God, it’s a monster!” by a user who said he worked for a deep sea surveying company. His crew found the creature hooked onto the bottom of a remotely operated vehicle, and estimated that the behemoth, which measures 2 1/2 feet long, was creeping along at a depth of about 8,500 feet.
Online investigations also helped identify the critter, which is a Bathynomus giganteus, or giant isopod. The crustaceans are related to shrimp and crabs, and are thought to dwell in the deep seas of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Giant isopods might make tasty prey, but they’re also hungry predators: The scavengers feast on carcasses of dead whales and fish. They have been known to attack sea-dwellers that are still alive and swimming.
That zealous appetite is probably one reason they’ve survived so long: Fossil records date these cockroaches of the sea back more than 160 million years, before the Earth’s continents were even formed.
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