My only big question is, how does it taste?
Divers found a new species of crustacean living deep in
hydrothermal vents of the South Pacific. The creature resembles a
lobster covered with "silky, blond" fur say researchers who made
the discovery.
The new crustacean, called Kiwa hirsuta, is described in the
journal of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The
animal is so distinct from other crustaceans that it has been
assigned to a new family (Kiwaida) and genus (Kiwa). According to
the scientists, the creature's name is derived from Kiwa, the
goddess of crustaceans in Polynesian mythology.
The divers found the animal in ocean waters 7,540 feet (2,300
meters) deep at a site 900 miles south of Easter Island in the
South Pacific. The 6-inch long (15 cm) animal lives in hydrothermal
vents and is blind, with only "the vestige of a membrane" in place
of eyes says Michel Segonzac of the French Institute for Sea
Exploration, one of the researchers who made the find.
The diving expedition was organized by Robert Vrijenhoek of the
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California.
