A Furry crustacean. What'll they find next?PARIS - Divers have discovered a new crustacean in the South Pacific that resembles a lobster and is covered with what looks like silky, blonde 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 genus and new family for it.
A team of American-led 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, or IFREMER.
The new crustacean is described in the journal of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The animal is white and 5.9 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. The diving expedition was organized by Robert Vrijenhoek of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California.
French Researchers get Crabs
Moderator: Alyrium Denryle
French Researchers get Crabs
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Not an armored Jigglypuff
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wolveraptor
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My money is on the fur being a camoflage type mechanism, trying to imitate some sea vegetation. Naturally, that only works if it lives in a habitat with vegetation in the first place. Maybe just the sensation of that fur in one's mouth gets carnivores to spit it out, or be more hesistant to eat it.
"If one needed proof that a guitar was more than wood and string, that a song was more than notes and words, and that a man could be more than a name and a few faded pictures, then Robert Johnson’s recordings were all one could ask for."
- Herb Bowie, Reason to Rock
- Herb Bowie, Reason to Rock
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Pick
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I would totally make one my bestest friend ever.
More seriously, this is great. I wonder what the purpose is... bah, who cares. Super awesome lobster-thing madness!
More seriously, this is great. I wonder what the purpose is... bah, who cares. Super awesome lobster-thing madness!
"The rest of the poem plays upon that pun. On the contrary, says Catullus, although my verses are soft (molliculi ac parum pudici in line 8, reversing the play on words), they can arouse even limp old men. Should Furius and Aurelius have any remaining doubts about Catullus' virility, he offers to fuck them anally and orally to prove otherwise." - Catullus 16, Wikipedia
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CaptainChewbacca
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Now seems like a good time to re-apply for grant funding to study tropical bearded clams.
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You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker
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Metatwaddle
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*dies* Holy shit. Jonathan Coulton is going to have a fit. (By the way, everyone should listen to the song. It's hilarious.)
"Sing hey hidey ho
Where'd the old lobster go
With his body so furry and brown..."
"Sing hey hidey ho
Where'd the old lobster go
With his body so furry and brown..."
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JointStrikeFighter
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