During a survey trip to the deep sea off the western tip of Java Island, Indonesia in 2018, a research team from Singapore discovered a species of creature. The animal has a head and compound eyes like the helmet of the Sith Lord in the Hollywood blockbuster “Star Wars”.
< p>And recently, a research team led by Director of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum of the National University of Singapore, Mr. Peter Ng, announced that the newly discovered marine species is Bathynomus raksasa, a member of the genus of giant foot-like creatures.< /p>
Even though the creatures look like cockroaches on land, they are “closely related” to marine animals such as shrimp or crabs. This species lives on the seabed and uses 14 legs to crawl along the ocean floor in search of food.
This is the result of a 2-week survey by the research team in 63 areas collecting tens of thousands of species at a depth of 800 m to 2,100 m, including molluscs such as jellyfish, sea worms, shrimp, crabs, starfish, sea urchins, sea urchins, sponges…
Although many new species have been discovered, it has only been 2 years After the survey, the new species Bathynomus raksasa (sea cockroach) was officially announced.
The sea cockroaches are about 50 cm long. In fact, the sea cockroach Bathynomus raksasa is the second largest arthropod in the world, second only to Bathynomus giganteus, often found in deep waters of the western Atlantic Ocean.
This species often eats animal carcasses. The sea is dead at the bottom of the ocean. However, they can even survive for long periods of time without food. The reason they are called sea cockroaches is because they have many similarities with terrestrial insects.
Who discovered this new creature?</p >
The 31-member research team led by Mr. Peter Ng conducted the discovery expedition with the help of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences.
Using techniques from fishing Using dredger trawls, the survey found more than 12,000 marine creatures belonging to more than 800 different species. Of these, 12 species have never been known.
Can sea cockroaches be eaten?
Sea cockroaches are considered a “scavenging” species. . They eat the remains of dead marine animals. This species is found in large numbers because most ocean bottom predators have little interest in them.
Sea cockroaches now live in parts of east and southeast Asia . They have a very thick shell with little meat, making it difficult to taste delicious. Because of the small amount of meat, they are not attractive to other predators.
According to Indianexpress/ Mashable/ DM
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