Giant Isopod

Giant Isopod

Image Source: "Bathynomus giganteus" by friend of User:Borgx - 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ROACH.JPG. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons -https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bathynomus_giganteus.jpg#/media/File:Bathynomus

_giganteus.jpg

Isopods are a large, diverse order with ten named suborders and approximately 10,000 species. They are found in all seas and at all depths, in fresh and brackish waters, and on land. The Giant isopod Bathynomus giganteus is the largest marine isopod species recorded in the world.It is reported to occur in a wide depth range from 170 to  2,140m and grows upto 400mm in length. Bathynomus giganteus was found for the fIrst time in 1878 off the coast ofDry Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico and is reported to have distribution off Gulfof Mexico; AtlanticOcean; BayofBengal and ArabianSea. 

Image Source: "Giant isopod" by NOAA - 

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02mexico/logs/oct13/media/isopod.html. 

Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giant_isopod.jpg#/media/File:Giant_isopod.jpg

They have compound eyes, two pairs of antennae, and four sets of jaws. The first antennae are uniramous and typiCally chemosensory; the second antennae are typically tactile structures

B.giganteus are voracious carnivores, functioning both as predators and scavengers by  crawling on the silty bottom looking for dead fishes and slow moving animals. This isopod has 4000 parts to its eyes that enable it to have a large field of view and be extremely sensitive to movement. This is important in areas were there is very little light. It has also developed large antennae so that it can feel its way around the sea floor. Food is scarce at 2000m so it has adapted to eat whatever comes its way.