Details
Bathynomus giganteus
The giant isopod is a large crustacean of deep Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific seafloors. It is a solitary omnivore treated here as nocturnal.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It lives on cold, dark ocean bottoms. It roams areas where sinking organic matter and small animals provide scarce food.
Length is about 20-50 cm and weight about 0.2-1.7 kg. A hard segmented carapace, large compound eyes, and a flattened body are typical.
It is solitary and treated as nocturnal. On the deep seafloor it moves slowly and may reduce activity when food is scarce.
It is omnivorous, eating sunken animal matter, small invertebrates, and weakened animals. It helps recycle food on the deep-sea floor.
Females protect eggs in a brood pouch under the body. Young hatch looking broadly like smaller adults and begin life on the seafloor.
Its conservation status is LC. Because it lives in deep water, parts of its life history remain difficult to observe.
