Wow, yeah it has been awhile since my last post. That's because it has been so busy here that I just haven't had time to really work on any topics. This means that if you have something you want to write about just go ahead and submit it, any length. But alas I finally brought back one of the classic articles featured in the original [rq} - Amazing Animals. Though today's is on Bathynomus giganteus, which is essentially one a giant version of those pill pugs, a.k.a. roly-polys'.
Known as Giant Isopods, these creatures live two thousand feet below the waves at the ocean floor. In a similar fashion to their terrestrial counterparts, will curl up into a ball when threatened. Their protective shell acts like an armor suit and is pretty strong. Growing to be up to sixteen inches in length, they can barely fit into your hand as opposed to on your fingertip. Because they live at such depths in the deep abyss, they don't have a lot of options as to what to eat. Their primary diet consists of the 'marine snow' which is basically whatever falls from the upper levels of the ocean. This is mainly made up of dead animal parts, such as krill, but anything that has any nutritional value, they'll eat. Their mouths are specifically designed to take whatever they can find and shred it to bite sized pieces. Oh, and they will occasionally hunt for smaller invertebrates that also live on the sea floor.
That's AMAZING! This reminds me of the sea creatures at the bottom of the sea that have a fluoresent body part so they can see what's around them.
ReplyDeleteYep, and actually most of the creatures at the bottom of the ocean are white, because there is no need for any color, yet we've pulled up some shrimp that are red. But then the question becomes, why? What is the point of being red if no one is going to see the red?
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