Giant 'Woodlouse' Shocks Oil Workers in the Gulf of Mexico

Oil workers in the Gulf of Mexico were stunned when a creature that looked like a giant woodlouse hitched a ride on the back of one of their submarines and was hauled onto their oil rig.

However, this was no alien creature from a far off planet, but is in fact a fairly common species of giant isopod that is usually found in deep sea waters at around depths of 8,500ft.  This specimen is a Bathynomous Giganteus and at two and a half feet long is possibly the largest of its kind ever to have been caught.  Usually members of this family are around half this size.  Bathynomous Giganteus is, in fact, a relative of the woodlouse commonly found in our back gardens, and is an example of deep-sea gigantism.  Crustaceans and invetebrates found in deep waters are commonly much larger than their counterparts who inhabit shallower waters, and Bathynomous Giganteus is abundant in the deeper, colder waters of the Atlantic and Pacific.

Read on for the whole news article on the giant 'woodlouse' that shocked the oil workers in the Gulf of Mexico.