S’pore Researchers Find Supergiant Sea Cockroach In Indonesian Water
A group of 31 researchers and support staff from Singapore went in for a 14 days expedition to survey the uncharted deep sea off the southern coast of West Jaya in Indonesia. This expedition was lead by the Head of Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum of the National University of Singapore, Peter Ng.
Among the researcher, the Museum, the NUS Tropical Marine Science Institute, and the Research Center for Oceanography (RCO) of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) are also collaborating on these missions. With about 12,000 creatures from 63 survey sites at an average depth of 800m and 2,100m (deepest), about 800 species that were uncovered and some were collected such as sponges, jellyfish, starfish, urchins, worms, crabs, and fish.
Among these sea creatures, of the weird rare one is the supergiant isopod is now bestowed with the scientific name Bathynomus raksasa. Isopods are distantly related to crabs and shrimps and are crustaceans. While they can grow up to 33cm of the size commonly and if they reach 50cm, they are classified as supergiants.
Top photo via St. John’s Island Marine Laboratory/Facebook