Meet the animal kingdoms newest little guy.
This is Booralana nickorum, a recently described species of deep-sea isopod found in The Bahamas.
Deep-sea isopods are cousins of terrestrial roly-polies, also known as pill bugs.
The newly discovered species of isopod.Photo: Courtesy of OceanX
A paper describing the species waspublishedrecently in Zootaxa.
B. nickorum is 2.17 inches (5.5 centimeters) long.
Shipley said that visiting the isopods habitat on the dives was like being in a sci-fi movie.
Image: Courtesy of OceanX
Caribbean deep sea ecosystems are really, really, really poorly studied, he added.
The potential for novel discovery is massive.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
The newly discovered species of isopod.Photo: Courtesy of OceanX.
