Breaststroke Isopod

I saw this little guy at a depth of 4100 meters about 100 miles west of Santa Barbara. Looks like it's swimming the breaststroke.

To read more, see my blog entry: http://andrewchase.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-i-saw-from-alvin.html

My scientist friend, Karen Osborne, tells me "That is a bathyopsurine, possibly Bathopsurus or Paropsurus. They are really rare - I've only seen 3 in my 5 years here working on munnopsids, the isopod family they belong too."

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• isopod
• mbari

[acechase]

This isopod is from the family munnopsid and is a bathyopsurine, possibly a Bathopsurus or Paropsurus. To read more about where I was when I saw this check out my blog entry (linked in the "details" for the video, after you click "more").

[Aotommo]

That is really cool. Did you record that with a microscope of some sort, or is it full-size, so to speak? (Forgive me, I know hardly anything about isopods.)

[acechase]

see comment below and details of video description.

[dltanner99]

Cryptozoology novel about two boys who find something strange on the beach one night see video book trailer

[makemap]

It's a USO! No, wait, It's a Submarine! No, It's a man! No, it's an Isopod with 4 fans?

[InsaneBuzzNeini]

It's beautiful :D

[Scythemantis]

Yep, those land-dwelling species are just part of a tremendous group that comes in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Some deep-sea species are bigger than a cat! Others are parasitic, some are microscopic. They can be found in every type of aquatic environment :)

[Xebelan]

Seems kind of rude to just yank the little guy out of the water. He's just paddling by. :(

[bananian]

that's quite an efficient set of pods.

[andresq4545]

So wait this is an isopod? As in "rolly polly", "pill bug", and "gallego" (latin america)

[vertozia]

can't you catch it?

[vuxfeon]

its a member of the new chinese swimming team.

[averykeeper]

its pretty.