Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. Advertise Here
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 29-03-2010, 22:07   #1
Registered User
 
svstrider's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: back on Gold Coast after swallowing the anchor
Boat: boat less ATM
Posts: 318
Hitchhiking Deep Sea Crustacean

Maybe this should go in the provisioning / cooking part of the forum. These pics are of a crazy critter that hitched a ride on top of a oil rig's Remotely Operated vehicle (ROV) which was working on a well head at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in the last few days. The ROV came up from 8500 ft. The critter was DOA as the pressure where it was stalking its prey is 3800 psi. It was 30 inches long.

I have spent some valuable work time researching this bugger and I think I know what it is. If I am correct it was probably one of the largest specimens ever found. I could be wrong, though. Has been known to happen VERY occasionally.

OK every one - suggestions needed as to the name of this, soon to be mornayed crustacean?

Tomorrow I will tell you what I think it is.
PS Come on, Gord, you probably have the operating manual for this critter in your database
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	ROV Hitchhiker 1_compr.JPG
Views:	1007
Size:	103.1 KB
ID:	14573   Click image for larger version

Name:	ROV Hitchhiker 2_comp.JPG
Views:	929
Size:	92.4 KB
ID:	14574  

__________________
Paul & Kaspar de Wonda Dog
S/V "Pelican V"
"Trust not a living soul and step warily around the dead"
svstrider is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 04:09   #2
cruiser

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Tampa to New York
Boat: Morgan 33 OutIsland, Magic and 33' offshore scott design "Cutting Edge"
Posts: 1,594
Hmm searching memory banks, came up with one in Bahamas years back ________ prawn
forsailbyowner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 04:21   #3
CF Adviser
Moderator Emeritus
 
Hud3's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Virginia
Boat: Island Packet 380, now sold
Posts: 8,942
Images: 54
Looks like a Bathynomus giganteus. At 30" you may just have a record-breaking catch.
__________________
Hud
Hud3 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 05:20   #4
Registered User
 
FSMike's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Bahamas/Florida
Boat: Solaris Sunstar 36' catamaran
Posts: 2,686
Images: 5
Now I know where they got the face for the critter in the "Predator" movies.
__________________
Sail Fast Live Slow
FSMike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 05:31   #5
Registered User
 
svstrider's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: back on Gold Coast after swallowing the anchor
Boat: boat less ATM
Posts: 318
Quote:
Originally Posted by forsailbyowner View Post
Hmm searching memory banks, came up with one in Bahamas years back ________ prawn
Nope - no prize. It is not a prawn and before you guess again, I will give you guys a hint. It is also NOT a member of the Bathylasquidae subspecies of the Stomatopods because, as you are all probably aware, these have stalked eyes while this beastie has recessed non-stalked eyes (check out the optics in the head shot).

These photos are not faked or photo shopped. I don't think my fellow oil workers have the time for photo shopping as they work 12 hour shifts, 7 days per week when they are on site. It was brought up on Seadrill Company's West Sirius rig which if you google you will find is working in the G of M at the moment.

Notice Ol' Crusties size compared to the handles of the ROV controls. As I said it was 30 inches long.

GUESS AGAIN
__________________
Paul & Kaspar de Wonda Dog
S/V "Pelican V"
"Trust not a living soul and step warily around the dead"
svstrider is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 05:38   #6
Registered User
 
Christian Van H's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Princeton, NJ
Boat: Challenger Anacapa 42
Posts: 2,097
Images: 57
Hud nailed it! Did you know the common Pill bug in your basement is a crustacean? They must keep their gills wet to breath...
__________________
www.anacapas.com

Here's to swimmin' with bowlegged women!
Christian Van H is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 07:07   #7
Registered User
 
svstrider's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: back on Gold Coast after swallowing the anchor
Boat: boat less ATM
Posts: 318
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hud3 View Post
Looks like a Bathynomus giganteus. At 30" you may just have a record-breaking catch.
Geez, Hud - you get the prize. You guys are amazing. Only took about three hours for someone to come up with the answer.

Anyway, for all you other invertebrate zoology fresh wo/men, they are OBVIOUSLY pictures of a crustacean from the Isopodia genus, in particular "a specimen of the largest ocean species, Bathynomus giganteus which is reported to grow to a maximum length of 19.7 in (50 cm). Isopods lack the carapace of many other crustaceans, instead having a cephalic shield. All but the parasitic forms have at least 14 walking legs (which this one has)—two on each of the seven somites that make up the pereon.

Marine isopods feed primarily on algae, diatoms, and other vegetation in addition to wood and vegetative detritus. In fact one third of their diet may be their own faeces! A few, such as Cirolana species, eat the decaying flesh of dead animals, especially fishes. Predators of these marine species are primarily fishes. "
(from http://www.answers.com/topic/isopoda-1)

Probably took me that long to do my own research after I got the photos today. At this evening's supervisors' meeting where we have to report on what out team had accomplished today, I proudly announced that I had been busy researching "Crustacean Taxonomy". The Captain said that was probably better than looking for porn. LOL

Now I have to think up a prize for Hud.
__________________
Paul & Kaspar de Wonda Dog
S/V "Pelican V"
"Trust not a living soul and step warily around the dead"
svstrider is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 07:51   #8
Registered User
 
idpnd's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Almería, ES
Boat: Chiquita 46 - Libertalia
Posts: 1,558
Quote:
Originally Posted by svstrider View Post
In fact one third of their diet may be their own faeces!

Still tastes like lobster though, you wanna bbq it before it goes off I reckon
__________________
sv Libertalia
idpnd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 07:56   #9
CF Adviser
 
Bash's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: sausalito
Boat: 14 meter sloop
Posts: 7,260
before you guys eat that thing you ought to photograph it alongside a ruler, preferably one with a metric scale.

if it really measures out at 30 inches, this specimen is more than twice the maximum size listed in most field guides.
__________________
cruising is entirely about showing up--in boat shoes.
Bash is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 08:24   #10
Senior Cruiser
 
GordMay's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario - 48-29N x 89-20W
Boat: (Cruiser Living On Dirt)
Posts: 49,082
Images: 241
Giant isopods, like Bathynomus Giganteus, are of little interest to most commercial fisheries; owing to the typical paucity of catches, and because ensnared isopods are usually scavenged beyond marketability before they are recovered.
However, in Northern Taiwan and other areas, they are not uncommon at seaside restaurants, served boiled and bisected with a clean lateral slice. The white meat, not dissimilar to crab or lobster in texture, is then easily removed.

See also “Simple Summer Recipes for Dead Seafloor Carrion”
Scavenger | Deep Sea News
__________________
Gord May
"If you didn't have the time or money to do it right in the first place, when will you get the time/$ to fix it?"



GordMay is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 13:29   #11
CF Adviser
Moderator Emeritus
 
Hud3's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Virginia
Boat: Island Packet 380, now sold
Posts: 8,942
Images: 54
Quote:
Originally Posted by svstrider View Post
...Now I have to think up a prize for Hud.
How about a slice of that tasty isopod, as you suggested earlier, in a Mornay sauce?
__________________
Hud
Hud3 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 13:34   #12
Registered User
 
Christian Van H's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Princeton, NJ
Boat: Challenger Anacapa 42
Posts: 2,097
Images: 57
That "thing" is scarier then the thing that popped out of that guy's chest in Alien! And you want to EAT it? Now I know why cruisers carry shotguns! Heh heh...trying to start gun thread drift...
__________________
www.anacapas.com

Here's to swimmin' with bowlegged women!
Christian Van H is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 16:33   #13
S/V rubber ducky
 
sailorboy1's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: heading "south"
Boat: Hunter 410
Posts: 20,362
To me that looks like what a gaint cockroach that lives in the sea would look like! And I might feed IT so that it wasn't mad at me, but don't think I would say out loud that I was going to eat it!

And I thought lobsters looked like something NOT to eat!
sailorboy1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 18:08   #14
CF Adviser
 
Bash's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: sausalito
Boat: 14 meter sloop
Posts: 7,260
look more closely, my friend

Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Lucas View Post
To me that looks like what a gaint cockroach that lives in the sea would look like!
Isopods have seven pairs of legs. A cockroach, being an insect, only has three.

And cockroach legs are always hairy, regardless of species.

(If it's any consolation, there's an isopod down in Baja that my students insist on calling a "rock roach." I have no idea where they picked up this habit.)
__________________
cruising is entirely about showing up--in boat shoes.
Bash is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-03-2010, 19:11   #15
Registered User
 
svstrider's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: back on Gold Coast after swallowing the anchor
Boat: boat less ATM
Posts: 318
Quote:
Originally Posted by GordMay View Post
See also “Simple Summer Recipes for Dead Seafloor Carrion”
Scavenger | Deep Sea News
Trust Gord to be hanging out on a site called "Deep Sea News" Here is the link to the full article on B. giganteus
From The Desk of Zelnio: Bathynomus giganteus | Deep Sea News

I emailed the site with those photos. I will try and get a contact on the Sirius rig and find out what happened to this specimen. Hopefully they didn't chuck it over the side.

HUD, how about a week on a 47 ft catamaran in the Kimberleys in August as your prize? You will need to get to Darwin first.
__________________
Paul & Kaspar de Wonda Dog
S/V "Pelican V"
"Trust not a living soul and step warily around the dead"
svstrider is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

« Advice | Manitou 32 »
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Hitchhiking from Cairns to Port Moresby (Carrying a Bike) MatiasHyde Pacific & South China Sea 8 29-07-2019 14:08
Help - maincraft deep sea seals jacquie21670 Construction, Maintenance & Refit 1 24-12-2008 13:16
Deep Sea Nine DeepSeaNine Meets & Greets 4 01-05-2008 12:51
deep-sea organisms feed on larvaceans GordMay The Library 1 25-08-2005 05:56

Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 19:39.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.