New Animal Resembling Furry Lobster Found

Yahoo! News | AP ^ | Tue Mar 7, 9:28 PM ET

[jasoncann]

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.

[jasoncann]

[TommyDale]

Is it a French Lobster that just doesn't shave under the arms?

[dmz]

Of course the article fails to answer the most important question: How does it taste with drawn butter?

[Cagey]

I imagine it tastes like chicken.

[Renderofveils]

So... edible? ;)

[Brilliant]

"about the size of a salad plate."



Perfect!

[Doogle]

...with the likelihood of being banned. I will remain civil and non-lucivious

[6SJ7]

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

Well, that's convenient.

[SquirrelKing]

Cool!

[NYFriend]

It look like a big giant furry tick with claws. I don't want to find that in my swim trunks.

[capt. norm]

Emeril will have a recipe for them by the end of the week.

Some of the ugliest critters from the sea make the best eating. Oysters are a good example.

[WorkingClassFilth]

No, it's an overgrown French louse that gives the appearance of armpit hair to the lovely Parisian maidens.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

[GreenFreeper]

That's exactly what I thought it looked like!

[Red Badger]

A White Sport coat on a pink crustacean?.........

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Looks like a hairpiece from the 1920's!

[nuconvert]

I definitely do NOT want that on my plate!

[R. Scott]

The divers found the animal in waters 7,540 feet deep at a site 900 miles south of Easter Island last year…

So I doubt it will be showing up at Red Lobster anytime soon.

[nuconvert]

Lol.

[GreenFreeper]

New creature alert!

ECO-PING

FReepmail me to be added or removed to the ECO-PING list!

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

The "hair" is no doubt used for tracking/finding food sources.

[johnny7]

The doctor can give you something for those.

[MaryFromMichigan]

If they they found only one, what causes them think that this is a new family and genus and not just a single, mutated animal?

[Recovering Hermit]

Yummy!

[Petronski]

...with the likelihood of being banned. I will remain civil and non-lucivious

Agreed. I can't even hint at the joke that came to mind.

[TonyWojo]

A brand new Fur, full length lobster coat.

[GreenFreeper]

A brand new Fur, full length lobster coat.

Fur is murder! Stop the wanton slaughter of Hairy Lobsters!!

[Brooklyn Kid]

Arrgh! The Abominable Snow Lobster

[Bender2]

Gadzooks! It is my long lost sister Maydeen!

[leadpenny]

Looks a lot like my ex, especially when she had a five o'clock shadow.

[1rudeboy]

Of course the article fails to answer the most important question: How does it taste with drawn butter?

I remember a Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau episode where his divers found an intact 2000-year-old jug of wine in some wreck. They sampled it before toweling off. hehe

[Chanticleer]

Claws look too small to be tasty. Also looks like a louse. But maybe with enough garlic butter....

[andy58-in-nh]

I'm smiling because I know what you all are thinking. ;-)

[Tzimisce]

Are the French surrendering to it?

[absolootezer0]

where's the tail? the tail's where most of the meat is.

[B-Chan]

LOL

[truemiester]

These people who talk about species dropping like flies dont know what they are talking aobut!

We are still discovering life on earth.

[Semi Civil Servant]

Fur Covered Trout

 

[PeteB570]

Looks more like a crab to me.

[Doohickey]

Looks more like a giant tick than a lobster.

[PeteB570]

Hmmm, were we doing any nuke tests near there in the 40s and 50s?

:-)

[NYFriend]

"The divers found the animal in waters 7,540 feet deep at a site 900 miles south of Easter Island last year…

So I doubt it will be showing up at Red Lobster anytime soon."

I don't know any of this to be true, but it's my understanding that fishermen over fished the main food fish in Pacific of the coast of South America, and the started heading out further and fishing deeper, and pulled up the Patagonian (sp?) toothfish, renamed it the "Chilean Sea Bass" and now we eat it in restaurants. So, if the New England Lobster supply runs low, maybe you'll start seeing these things. How much harder is it to lay bait traps 1.5 miles down?

For me, if I was diving and got that far down, I'd be thinking things couldn't get any worse...until in landed in a pack of those monsters.

[mpackard]

Meeee tooooo. Yikes that critter gave me the willies~~~~

[aruanan]

Another of the ~15,000 new species discovered every year?

[Celtic Conservative]

"I prefer furry tuna."

(rimshot)

LOL!

[Former Dodger]

Of course the article fails to answer the most important question: How does it taste with drawn butter?

Drawn butter or Brylcreem?

Now, let's think about those A-bomb tests that the French did in the area...

[Tracy V.]

To all;

Heck, I don't see what's all the fuss. You can get these by the dozen in Tokyo.

[RightWingAtheist]

It looks like the monster from the Outer Limits episode "The Invisibles":

[rdcorso]

It looks like a spider with two long furry arms.I'm pretty sure that crabs are in the spider family but I'm not sure about lobsters.It looks like something the French would put on a plate and dress up with a skirt of grass or something.I know they say the food is good but it doesn't look good to me.