Bathynomus giganteus Milne-Edwards, 1879

This gigantic creature (maximum recorded length is about 450 mm) was discovered for the first time in 1878 off the coast of the Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico when a scientific expedition detected a single specimen in its experimental fishing nets. A year later, Milne-Edwards described the 226 mm long male specimen that was brought to his attention. The discovery of such a giant deep-sea isopod had a strong impact on the public's imagination and several illustrations of the animal appeared in popular books dealing with the mysterious deep-sea world. It took two more years before more, female, specimens were caught.

The giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus) is known from the Atlantic and Pacific but is believed to occure in all oceans in isolated pockets. It lives at depths of about 150 m down to 2250 m mainly on silty or gravel bottoms were is scavanges for sunken cadavers or hunts prey. On occasion, the isopod is trapped in deep sea trawling nets and during the haul it feasts on the catch of fish, much to the fishermen's dislike, but these encounters remain rare. Due to its habitat, this species remains rare both in institutional collections and certainly in private collections.

Please have a look at our Crustacean page for available specimens of Bathynomus giganteus and other crustaceans and rare and a peculiar isopod from the Antarctic.