ROV hitchiker...

[scottsax]

A friend sent these pics to me of a giant isopod that hitched a ride to the surface on a ROV.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_isopod

Wow...

Yikes!

Double yikes!

I wish I knew the source of the pictures... I'm continuing to look. The pictures in the Wikipedia article are from NOAA's Ocean Explorer website.

[Ken G]

I wonder what it tastes like boiled and dipped in melted butter

[Mattleycrue76]

I wonder what it tastes like boiled and dipped in melted butter

I was thinking the same thing. It kinda looks like one big lobster tail.

[Dusty2]

Wow! That is one big bug. and according to wikipedia they edible and taste much like lobster

[Ken G]

Kind of look like the scary version of Slipper Lobster I saw in Phuket

[blt2go]

I wonder what it tastes like boiled and dipped in melted butter

An old girlfriend of mine, who minored in Marine Biology at Western, had a story she said was told by one of her professors where he was way out in the middle of nowhere and they pulled something like that up. The thought was that it was a new species and/or much bigger than any of the others, some thing like that, but science will never know, because the crew ATE it. Yes, the nationality of the crew (not American) was mentioned, but that it won't add much to the discussion other than to say that they are known to eat darn near anything!

Me, I liked it when our research trawls pulled up crab or shrimp. Not much better than a huge, still kickin' Alaskan Spot prawn tossed in the microwave and drenched in garlic butter! Yum!
When we caught Halibut, we had to measure how long they were then toss them right back over the side. I guess they had a good union! (aka the International Halibut Commission).
Believe it or not, there ARE times I miss the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska!

[Tom Nic]

Here's the Caribbean version of the Slipper Lobster... they can be a little creepy looking. Don't know if they're legal to eat, (definitely not in Bonaire!) or if there's much there. Doesn't look like there's much of a tail. The OP's critter is certainly creepy looking - looks like something straight out of Alien! Sci Fi has nothing on the world of the ocean....

[60south]

Yowsa! That's probably a very old bug.

It's like a gigantic roly-poly.