New species of giant marine insect with the head of Darth Vader

Jan. 14 () –

A new species of giant marine insect has been presented in ZooKeys magazine by the Indonesian Investigation Agency (BRIN) with a name that evokes the evil Darth Vader from Star Wars.

Specifically, the giant isopods of the genus Bathynomus, which can reach more than 30 cm in length, They are known as “sea bugs” in Vietnam. For the first time, one of these species has been described in Vietnamese waters and has been named Bathynomus vaderi.

The name “vaderi” is inspired by the appearance of his head, which closely resembles Darth Vader’s distinctive and iconic helmet.

Bathynomus vaderi belongs to a group known as “supergiants”, which reach lengths of 32.5 cm and weigh more than a kilogram. So far, this new species has only been found near the Spratly Islands in Vietnam, but further research is likely to confirm its presence in other parts of the South China Sea.

Giant isopods such as Bathynomus vaderi have become an expensive delicacy in Vietnam. Until 2017, local fishermen only sold them as bycatch at low prices, but in recent years the media has drawn public attention to this unusual seafood. Some even claim that it is more delicious than lobster, the “king of seafood.”

These animals have been caught commercially by trawlers operating in several deep-water areas of Bien Dong (East Sea, Vietnamese part of the South China Sea) and offshore provinces along the south-central coast of Vietnam. In the past five years, it has become common to see them sold alive in some seafood markets in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Dà Nang City. Some establishments and restaurants even advertise the sale of these “sea insects” online on various social media platforms, including how to cook them better!

In March 2022, staff at the University of Hanoi, Vietnam, purchased four giant isopod individuals from Quy Nhon City and sent two of them to Peter Ng of the Lee Kong Chian Museum of Natural History at the National University of Singapore. , for identification. Peter Ng has a very active crustacean laboratory in Singapore and has worked on the deep-sea fauna of many parts of Asia.

He subsequently hired Conni M. Sidabalok from Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency, who had described Bathynomus from southern Java with him. Together with Nguyen Thanh Son of Vietnam National University, who is the resident crustacean researcher there, they studied the specimens. In early 2023, They realized that they had specimens of a hitherto undescribed species.

The discovery of such a rare species as Bathynomus vaderi in Vietnam highlights how little we know about the deep sea environment. The fact that a species as large as this has been able to remain hidden for so long reminds us how much work we still have to do to discover what lives in the waters of Southeast Asia.

A better understanding of deep-sea biodiversity is urgently needed as humans increasingly seek to exploit this habitat for fishing, oil and gas extraction, and even minerals. Sustainable fishing for giant isopods only compounds the many challenges we face. The first step is to know what lives there.