Discovery of a new species of giant sea louse
Despite its frightening appearance from prehistoric times, Bathonymus yucatanensis is harmless to humans.
They mainly feed on the corpses of fish and whales submerged on the ocean floor.
DNA analysis of a giant sea louse at a Japanese aquarium showed it belonged to a species that had never been described.
According to scientists, international researchers from Taiwan, Japan and Australia named the new species Bathonymus yucatanensis. It is about 26 cm long and 13 cm wide, up to 2,500% larger than ordinary wood lice.
There are about 20 known species of giant sea lice in the genus Bathonymus, 14 of which inhabit the deepest, darkest and coldest waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.
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