 Gwynzer / Reddit |
A 30-inch-long deep-sea bug? This picture purporting to show a deep-sea isopod, of the species Bathynomus giganteus, has been posted to sites such as Reddit and Cruisers Forum. |
It may look like a creepy-crawly April Fool’s joke – but an expert on deep-sea species says the bizarre giant bug shown in pictures circulating on the Internet is the real deal.
“I’ve seen the pictures, and they are real, and they really do get that big,” Craig McClain, assistant director of science for the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina, told me today.
McClain specializes in deep-sea biological systems and covers the subject on his Weblog, Deep-Sea News. So he was the go-to guy when pictures of the bug, reportedly hauled up aboard a remotely operated vehicle operating near an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, started turning up on Web sites ranging from Reddit to Cruisers Forum.
“It’s an isopod,” McClain said. “It’s like the rolypolys or pillbugs that you find in your garden. It’s the same group of animals.”
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