Divers discover new animal that resembles furry lobster: French researchers
PARIS (AP) - A team of divers has 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, is so distinct from other species they created a new family and genus for it. The divers found the animal in waters 2,300 metres deep at a site about 1,500 kilometres south of Easter Island last year, said 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 just shy of 15 centimetres long.
In what Segonzac described as a "surprising characteristic," the animal's pincers are covered with sinuous, hair-like strands.
It is also blind. The researchers found it had only "the vestige of a membrane" in place of eyes, Segonzac said.
The researchers said 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.
