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Published on 27/10/2020 at 19:00 by Eric Allen

Scientists have discovered this absolutely terrifying giant ‘sea cockroach’

Researchers from the National University of Singapore came across a quite the discovery during a marine survey off the coast of Indonesia. A giant 'sea cockroach' with 14-legs and look that will send shivers down your spine.

Falling under the isopod category this cockroach looking creature is actually a closely related to crustaceans like shrimp and crab.

The find was made during the 2018 joint Singapore-Indonesia South Java Deep-Sea Expedition (SJADES). During the expedition over 12,000 deep-sea specimens were collected this giant 'sea cockroach' being one of them.

Dubbed Bathynomus raksasa the deep-sea giant isopods can grow up to 20 inches in length while most other deep-sea isopods don't exceed 10 millimetres. The creature has also been attracting a lot of social media attention amassing reactions from curiosity to disgust. Some have even compared it to looking like Darth Vader from Star Wars.

This wasn't the only discovery made on the expedition. Researchers also managed to classify 11 new species including new species of shrimps, crabs and lobsters.

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Remember this giant isopod we fished out from the deep-sea and affectionately nicknamed ‘Darth Vader’ for its likeness to the Star War’s character?⁣ ⁣ Meet 𝘉𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘶𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘢, a marine isopod (Crustacea) collected from dark and cold depths of the Indian Ocean during the 2018 joint Singapore-Indonesia South Java Deep Sea Expedition (SJADES). ⁣ ⁣ The new species has grabbed the headlines internationally over the past two weeks, arousing much curiosity over its gigantic size and unusual appearance.⁣ ⁣ The enormous size and significance of the find inspired its name “raksasa”, which is the Indonesian ⁣word for giant. How big you ask? Averaging 33 centimetres, the giant isopod is around 20 times larger than pillbugs, to which it is related!⁣ ⁣ The expedition continues to bear fruit with scientific discoveries two years on, and this rewarding discovery is merely one out of 11 new species from the voyage. Swipe to see some of the new ⁣ crustacean species, but do check out our latest update for ALL the new species, including two new papers just published today! 👀 Link in Bio⁣ ⁣ ⁣ 1-3: 𝘉𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘶𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘢, a new giant isopod species⁣ 4: 𝘕𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘺𝘶𝘢𝘦, a new clawed lobster⁣ 5: 𝘛𝘺𝘱𝘩𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴, a new crab⁣ 6: 𝘎𝘭𝘺𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘴, a new shrimp⁣ ⁣ #SJADES2018 #NUSResearch⁣ ⁣ All photos by SJADES 2018

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There are only 20 different species of giant isopods with the Bathynomus raksasa being the newest addition to the list. It seems as though every time scientists go looking, they seem to find something new... just goes to show how little we know about our own oceans. Wonder what they'll find next time!

Check out the video above to see pictures of some of the other new species discovered on the expedition.