A New Crustacean With 14 Legs Has Been Named After Darth Vader
In Vietnam, a newly described giant isopod has become something of a seafood delicacy. It was named Bathynomus vaderi, in honor of Darth Vader from Star Wars.
The crustacean’s name is fitting because it lives in deep, dark waters. Additionally, its head is shaped similarly to Darth Vader’s helmet.
“I am the biggest Star Wars fan in the team, as it’s my vintage. The first movie was in 1977, in my youth, and it was cool,” said Peter Ng, a co-author of the study and a crustacean researcher from the National University of Singapore.
“But we all agree that the face of Bathynomus looks so much like Darth Vader that it just had to be named after the Sith Lord.”
While the species may be new to the scientific community, locals in Vietnam have called it “bo bien,” which means “sea bugs” in Vietnamese.
However, the genus Bathynomus isn’t anywhere near the size of a bug. These giant isopods have seven pairs of legs that can grow up to about one foot in length.
Since 2017, people in Vietnam have been enjoying the crustaceans as a seafood delicacy. They are caught in deep waters and then transported in ice boxes while alive to restaurants.
The animals were once treated as accidental catches that were made when fishing, but now, some consider them to be just as luxurious as lobster.
Over the last five years, it has become common to see them sold at seafood markets in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang City.
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In 2022, the research team got their hands on four giant isopods from fishmongers in the Vietnamese city of Quy Nhon.
They performed a DNA analysis and compared the isopods to others, which led to the realization that they were dealing with a species that had never been officially described before.
Bathynomus vaderi, in particular, can reach 12.8 inches long and weigh more than 2.2 pounds. A section of its back narrows and curves backward in a way that’s unique from other isopods.
The species is only known to live near the Spratly Islands, but the researchers suggest that it likely occupies other regions of the South China Sea.
Bathynomus produce a small number of eggs, so they are vulnerable to threats like overfishing. Some experts are concerned about its conservation. The species may become extinct if this culinary trend continues.
The discovery of a species like Bathynomus vaderi in Vietnam serves as a reminder of just how much scientists don’t know about the deep sea.
As humans continue to practice industrial fishing and offshore drilling, there is an urgent need to further investigate deep-sea biodiversity in order to learn how best to protect it.
The study was published in the journal ZooKeys.
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