New Animal Resembling Furry Lobster Found

[karyn]

from yahoo



PARIS - A team of American-led divers has discovered a new crustacean in the South Pacific that resembles a lobster and is covered with what looks like silky, blond fur, French researchers said Tuesday.

Scientists said the animal, which they named Kiwa hirsuta, was so distinct from other species that they created a new family and genus for it.

The divers found the animal in waters 7,540 feet deep at a site 900 miles south of Easter Island last year, according to Michel Segonzac of the French Institute for Sea Exploration.

The new crustacean is described in the journal of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

The animal is white and just shy of 6 inches long — about the size of a salad plate.

In what Segonzac described as a "surprising characteristic," the animal's pincers are covered with sinuous, hair-like strands.

It is also blind. The researchers found it had only "the vestige of a membrane" in place of eyes, Segonzac said.

The researchers said that while legions of new ocean species are discovered each year, it is quite rare to find one that merits a new family.

The family was named Kiwaida, from Kiwa, the goddess of crustaceans in Polynesian mythology.

The diving expedition was organized by Robert Vrijenhoek of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California.

[mmmcherry]

HAHAA that thing is my desktop background right now! hes so ugly hes cute by default.

[Geist42]

looks like a wierd new species of pubic lice

[Morning Glory]

what makes them think this thing is new? it's probably 12 million years old.


In other news, bill the furry lobster has discovered a new species today. they have big eyes, flapping jaws, hairy bodies, and speak in an unintelligible squack that they seem to refer to as "french." the undersea institute has deteremined that this strange new creature is some type of large, dimwitted flightless bird.

[mmmcherry]

HAHAAA omg that is awesome.
ive always wondered if secretely all the animals on earth were sentient beings... and what in the blue fuck they think of us ... but it probably goes something along those lines

[TheQuietPlace]

Eww. It looks like a spider, and spiders really disgust/scare me. I can't stand them.

[Mindgames]

+ =

mG

[Toe Cutter]

It would be crazy to see that thing on the menu of 'Red Lobster' in like 6 monthes. I wonder what it would taste like?

[KilLAtomiK]

It would be crazy to see that thing on the menu of 'Red Lobster' in like 6 monthes. I wonder what it would taste like?

i came into this thread to type something along those lines

[Spaceman Spiff]

I just keep thinking a furry lobster sounds like some kind of innuendo.

[mmmcherry]

hah that guy with all the money looks like he could sell some really cheap crap in an infomercial.

"BUT THATS NOT ALL FOLKS!!! buy 7 more of my useless contraptions and get the 8th free!!!"

[vinylkitty]

Creepy! I have issue with ocean stuff! Yeech!

[Agent Vicious Vivaldi]

That thing really creeps me out...it reminds me of like a scorpion, tarantula, and lobster...

[Rockwulf]

I bet it's delicious.

[the_darkness_calls]

random thought, but with all this talk of lobsters..... i love to watch em in the tanks in the grocery store, and sometimes if they were fighting my old roommate and i would take bets to see which one won.

man, now i'm wondering what that thing would taste like too, although i wouldn't eant to eat one, i don't think.

[mmmcherry]

i think that fuzzy dude is too small to eat... and too skinny... thered be like nothing on him to eat!
mmm ill stick to red rock crab.

[hewhoisagod]

now if other shellfish had hair like................. CLAMS!!!!!