Giant isopod | 台北市立動物園資訊網

Agiantisopodisanyofthealmost20speciesoflargeisopodsinthegenusBathynomus....Thegiantisopodsarenotedfortheirresemblancetothemuchsmaller...Giantisopodsareagoodexampleofdeep-seagigantism(cf.giantsquid), ...

Genus of crustaceans

A giant isopod is any of the almost 20 species of large isopods in the genus Bathynomus. They are abundant in the cold, deep waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.[1][2]Bathynomus giganteus, the species upon which the generitype is based, is often considered the largest isopod in the world, though other comparably poorly known species of Bathynomus may reach a similar size (e.g., B. Kensleyi).[1] The giant isopods are noted for their resemblance to the much smaller common woodlouse (pill bug), to which they are related.[3]

French zoologist Alphonse Milne-Edwards was the first[4] to describe the genus in 1879[5] after his colleague Alexander Agassiz collected a juvenile male B. giganteus from the Gulf of Mexico. This was an exciting discovery for both scientists and the public, as at the time the idea of a lifeless or "azoic" deep ocean had only recently been refuted by the work of Sir Charles Wyville Thomson and others.[citation needed...