It has been a few years since we’ve brought you any “Monster Isopod” stories, but when we saw this video, we knew we had to share. You’ll feel this is either strangely beautiful or downright creepy, but either way its pretty amazing.
This giant Bathynomus giganteus was spotted scooting over the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico last week by the NOAA exploration vessel Okeanos Explorer. It was conducting deep-sea research that began on Nov. 29 and will continue through Dec. 21 when its camera spotted this isopod in motion.
“During the first dive of the expedition, we saw this giant deep-sea isopod, Bathynomus giganteus. While we often see these giant underwater ‘pill bugs’ resting on the seafloor, we don’t always get to see them swim, so seeing this isopod, which measured nearly 30 centimeters (almost one foot) long, come in for a landing was exciting,” said the introduction of this video on the Okeanos Explorer website.
In case you missed this, the Okeanos Explorer is also airing three live streams on YouTube of this current expedition.
Enjoy and sleep tight!
