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[Skitterpop]

New animal resembles furry lobster

Wednesday, March 8, 2006; Posted: 5:15 a.m. EST (10:15 GMT)


The crustacean's pincers are covered with sinuous, hair-like strands.
(AP) -- Divers have discovered a new crustacean in the South Pacific that resembles a lobster and is covered with what looks like silky, blond 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 family and genus for it.

A team of American-led divers found the animal in waters 2,300 meters (7,540 feet) deep at a site 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) south of Easter Island last year, according to Michel Segonzac of the French Institute for Sea Exploration.

The new crustacean is described in the journal of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

The animal is white and 15 centimeters (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.

It's also blind. The researchers found it had only "the vestige of a membrane" in place of eyes, Segonzac said.

The researchers said that while legions of new ocean species are discovered each year, it is quite rare to find one that merits a new family.

The family was named Kiwaida, from Kiwa, the goddess of crustaceans in Polynesian mythology.

The diving expedition was organized by Robert Vrijenhoek of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California.

[NIB]

Ya thats great.
CHANGE UR AVATR

[Skitterpop]

and not the better looking one

Tony

[baldwin]

Those hair-like structures are probably for sensory perception. Vibration and touch. Mammalian hairs developed from similar structures (prototrichs), and are still used for those purposes as whiskers on cats and other mammals. Nocturnal existance in mammals probably led to development of hair, insulating properties fast-forwarded the changes. Nocturnal existence helped them avoid competition with the dominant reptiles and dinosaurs of the time, who were poikilothermic (cold blooded) and functioned better during the heat of the day. Many people think mammals arose after the demise of the dinosaurs, but they coexisted from the start. The extinction of dinosaurs just eliminated the threat and competition, allowing adaptive radiation to occur in mammals and allowing them to change to occupy a multitude of evolutionary niches previously occupied by dinosaurs.
Existence in deep, dark ocean depths would be made much easier with the structures you describe.

[Joe]

Hey Baldwin - you got a heck of a vocabulary for a guy from New Haven.

[The Dad Fisherman]

I guess the big question is.....who's going to be the 1st to make a plug like it?

[Skitterpop]

Originally Posted by The Dad Fisherman

I guess the big question is.....who's going to be the 1st to make a plug like it?

I was thinking that someone might say this.....

[tattoobob]

Once the polar ice cap melts things like this will be the only thing to live, us land lovers will all be dead or living on a mountain top.

[Striper1]

Originally Posted by The Dad Fisherman

I guess the big question is.....who's going to be the 1st to make a plug like it?

Funny I was thinking big pot of boiling water and butter...

[baldwin]

I'm hoping that global warming and receding shorelines will bring my favorite fishing spots closer to home. I've got a nice little ridge in the back yard that would form a nice rip on a dropping tide.

[Roger]

I have an aunt with arms like that.