Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Should I be concerned that I found these in my bathtub last night after bathing?

In truth, these wouldn't fit in my bathtub. Holy frickin' crap.

A submarine exploring the ocean's depths recently returned with an unexpected visitor: a crablike critter that has left many readers startled and horrified...

In a posting to social bookmarking site Reddit, a deep-sea technician detailed the finding, asking the site's readers to help identify what exactly the bizarre looking creature was.

A submarine exploring the ocean's depths recently returned with an unexpected visitor: a crablike critter that has left many readers startled and horrified.

The post reads, "I work for a Sub-sea Survey Company, recently this beast came up attached to one of our ROVs. It measures a wee bit over 2.5 feet head to tail, and we expect it latched onto the ROV at roughly 8,500 feet depth. Unfortunately, the e-mail that these pictures were attached to came from a contractor, and the ship he was operating from (and therefore location) is unknown, so I can't tell you what part of the Earth this beast was living."

The pictures reveal the creature to be a giant isopod, a large crustacean that dwells in deep Atlantic and Pacific waters. This particular creature is a Bathynomus giganteus, a deep-sea scavenger that feeds on dead whales, fish and squid.

Update: Papa B: "I'd recommend seeing a dermatologist."


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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:18 PM

    Does it taste good?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Duncan Idaho1:31 AM

    Dude, I have some Old Bay seasoning. We can try that. Heck, we can get some cajun crab boil to do this.

    Is it wrong for me to reach for some hot sauce while looking at this thing?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous8:30 AM

    Cockroach of the sea.

    Hold the butter - I'll keep kosher.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous9:41 AM

    Whatever it is, it's going to be showing up soon in some sci-fi movie.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Azhan3:13 PM

    Guys! this is a common thingy. I am from Maldives, and we used to put out feet inside the sand where the beach meets water, and run along and these white creatures get on our feet and then we throw them out on the beach with our feet, these are white colour ones. also theres a worm like creature, just like that. But i never saw one this big.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous6:29 PM

    It's a 'Cymothoa Exigua' tongue-eating louse.
    Here's the info :

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua

    More pictures here :

    http://www.sharenator.com/The_Tongue_Eating_Louse_is_a_gross_parasite_living_in_a_fishs_mouth/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous3:26 PM

    That's the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. Ever.

    ReplyDelete