DON’T MIX UP THESE CREATURES

(THEY WON’T LIKE IT)

By Lily Liu

While I was learning about deep sea creatures, I found the Giant Isopod. What caught my eye was that they could go 5 years in the wild without eating! After doing some research, I figured they have a land relative, the woodlouse—more commonly known as the roly-poly. Here I’ve summed everything up to make this article.

What animal eats dead whales, but can go without eating for 5 years in the wild, 9 years in captivity? Well, while surfing the web, I found the answer: The Giant Isopod. These stunning creatures live in the deep sea, and that makes sense, since meals are scarce in the deep-sea. These creatures  are found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. Part of the Bathynomus group, Giant Isopods are the biggest Isopod species. They experience deep-sea gigantism from colder temperatures and longer lifespans. With 14 legs, large, reflective eyes, 4 sets of jaws, a segmented body, 2 antennae, and over 4,000 facets in their large compound eyes, these crustaceans may seem to be nightmares…. But they’re not! Giant Isopods do not eat people, and they do eat dead animals, quickly detecting them using chemoreception. Though they mostly eat dead animals, Giant Isopods can also prey on slow or sessile animals. When an immense number of food comes their way they eat till they can’t move, that is, until the food gets digested. Giant Isopods are known to be light brown or pale lilac in color. If you want to know where this info came from, check out one or both of these: https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/giant_isopod and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1EXdpH3XY8

        But wait—Giant Isopods have a land relative, known as the woodlouse. Woodlice live in groups under bark, and in dark, damp places. Though the woodlouse is 18-35cm shorter than the 19-36cm long Giant Isopod, it doesn’t mean that the Giant Isopod’s land relative has to be giant too, right? The woodlouse is about 1 cm long, and is grey, brown, and black and usually a bit shiny on the outside. It can roll into a ball, looking almost exactly like a half-centimeter-long black bead when threatened. It is the only “terrestrial isopod”, meaning it is the only isopod that lives on land. It has a shell exoskeleton which it molts in two stages for a bigger exoskeleton. They have 14 segments, live in forests worldwide, and have over 3 nicknames. They are not eaten by humans. There are over 3,000 species of woodlice discovered. They do their job as decomposers by feeding on rotting plants. However they do sometimes eat young saplings, but don’t worry, they don’t spread diseases. Their predators include toads, spiders, centipedes, and millipedes. Females lay around 24 eggs and keep them in a pouch, which means, they are marsupial. Young woodlice are cared for till they’re independent, and then they go wherever they please.

I think it’s important to research these creatures because they wouldn’t like being mixed up. You’d suffocate a giant isopod by putting it under bark, and you’d drown a woodlouse by throwing it into the sea. I hope this article has informed you that these creatures aren’t nightmares. They are both innocent to humans and it’s something we should know.

Again if you want proof I wasn’t making these things up, check out these links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjX2pO6irGg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ir_Sduppvc, or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoyAL5gkncc