You won’t believe what washed up near Hooters! A giant isopod—an ancient, alien-like sea creature—showed up while my buddy was fishing with his sister. This thing looks like it came straight ...

Recent years have seen giant isopods like B. vaderi go from being merely the accidental bycatch of local fishermen to an expensive delicacy elevated above even lobster, the so-called king of seafood.

Scientists believe this isopod's big size is due to the fact it lives deep underwater, on the ocean bed. This new species of giant isopod is around 2,500 times bigger than a garden woodlouse, ...

Like all giant isopods, of which there are around 20 species, B. Vaderi is a carnivore and prefers feeding on crustaceans, fish, squid, and even whale carcasses.

The giant isopod is served as food after being steamed, grilled, stir-fried or cooked with fried rice. Giant isopods sold at a seafood market in Hanoi in May 2024. PHOTO: NGUYEN THANH SON.

But, life still prevails in the giant hole in the ocean floor some 2,500 feet below the Gulf of Mexico. Researchers have discovered a new species of the mysterious deep-sea isopod Bathonymus in ...

This is the third supergiant isopod species discovered in the South China Sea since 2017, researchers said. Photo by Huang M-C, Kawai T (2025) At a fishing port in Taiwan, researchers bought four ...

Researcher Peter Ng examining giant isopods at a seafood market in Hanoi, Vietnam. Nguyen Thanh Son. Ng says the team chose the species’ name because of its resemblance to Darth Vader’s mask, ...

This is the third supergiant isopod species discovered in the South China Sea since 2017, researchers said. Photo by Huang M-C, Kawai T (2025) At a fishing port in Taiwan, researchers bought four ...

What has 14 legs, lives at the bottom of the sea, and looks like Darth Vader? It's a newly discovered species of supergiant isopod, and should you happen to be in Vietnam sometime soon, you can ...

The head of Bathynomus vaderi, a newly described species of giant isopod found in Southeast Asian waters Nguyen Thanh Son. Move aside, lobster—a newly described giant isopod from Vietnam is now ...

Isopod: New giant 14-legged sea creature discovered by scientists in Mexico. Image source, Journal of Natural History. Image caption, The woodlouse-like creature measure 26 centimetres in length ...