PARIS - Divers have discovered a new crustacean in the South Pacific that resembles a lobster and is covered with what looks like silky, blonde fur, French researchers said Tuesday.
Scientists said the animal, which they named Kiwa hirsuta, was so distinct from other species that they created a new genus and new family for it.
A team of American-led divers found the animal in waters 7,540 feet deep at a site 900 miles south of Easter Island last year, according to Michel Segonzac of the French Institute for Sea Exploration, or IFREMER.
The new crustacean is described in the journal of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The animal is white and 5.9 inches long, about the size of a salad plate.
In what Segonzac described as a "surprising characteristic," the animal's pincers are covered with sinuous, hair-like strands. The diving expedition was organized by Robert Vrijenhoek of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California.
What really amazes me is how excited I was over a blonde crustacean. I can't even spell crustacean! What do I know? Why should I care? My ever-optimistic reasoning is that humans are curious buggers. We love to learn. Love to hear about new and exciting things, love to learn about our world. What a good example something like this is. So, I guess that the thought I need to remember for the next time I start questioning why we are doing one line of research or another should be something like, "because of the blonde lobster." At which point, I should probably get really confused.
Oh, and the other thought that I had: Did anyone else notice that the article said that the blonde lobster is just about perfectly sized for a salad plate? Hm... Coming soon to a restaurant aquarium near you.
This thing looks like a stuffed animal. In fact, I thought it was for a while.
Get this. It is named "Kiwa" after the Polynesian goddess of crustaceans! Polynesia = good place!
The arms remind me of those stuffed animal monkeys with velcro on their hands.
I like it.
It is pretty cool. I hear scientists also discovered a new worm- it was found feasting on the decaying flesh of a beached whale.
It's from too deep to farm or fish, so it's probably safe from all but the scientists. It is very kewl and I get excited any time new life is discovered. I'll have to think about it being a new species and genus. It is certainly unique. I particularly wonder at all the silky cilia or 'hairs' on the appendages. Thanks for sharing!
So it would need to be a pressurized restaurant aquarium, of which there are sadly none near me.
As a side note, I'm reminded of this group of researchers who had discovered a new and exceedingly rare bottom dwelling anenome. It lived in similar conditions to the Kiwa - under intense pressure.
On TV, much to my horror, they kept attempting to bring one to the surface to take to an aquarium. Without any knowledge of basic physics, they kept thinking that it was so delicate that as they raised it to the surface in a bucket, it was disintegrating from the trip, rather than exploding from it's own internal pressure cancelling mechanisms. After the fourth or fifth anenome exploded, I started feeling a bit sick. Later, Maman told me that they never managed to get one to the surface for the show.