“SAY HELLO TO MY SPECIAL FRIEND”
Good Grief!! Have you ever see any creature like it?
Very scary!
It is also very rare, too!
This Sea Roach can only be seen at the Ostego Bay Marine Science Center, here in Lee County, southwestern Florida.
This Marine Science Center is located under the Matanzas Pass Bridge on San Carlos Island, opposite Bonita Bill’s Restaurant on the Estero Bay.
The largest isopod species are those from the genus Bathynomus, or Sea Roach. These animals live in the deep-sea, and (like many animals that live there) they are larger than their shallow-water relatives.
One such species, Bathynomus giganticus, is found in water up to 1,000 m (in the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic coast of the U.S.); it can grow up to about 28 cm in length. It is usually caught in baited traps, which it enters to scavenge fish carcasses and it actively preys on smaller animals as well as scavenges on anything organic that drops to the sea floor. It pays to have adaptable feeding strategies when you live in such a resource-poor environment.
The sea roach is a crustacean typically found in water 2,000 feet below sea level and possibly much deeper. Fisherman have dubbed Bathynomus giganteus "the sea roach" because it looks like a giant version of the household cockroach.
Various other isopod species are found as deep as 20,000 feet underwater in oceans worldwide. Isopods live in fresh water, salt water, and even on land. The small animals found in rotting logs and leaves often called “pill bugs,” “sow bugs” or “rolly pollys” are actually isopods, not insects. Pill bugs are the only large group of truly terrestrial crustaceans. As the world's largest isopod, the sea roach can grow to 14 inches in length.
Sea roaches are sensitive to light and changes in pressure. These isopods are recorded in fossil records dating back to the Eocene Age, approximately 50 million years ago. However, isopods are thought to have existed long before that time. They are found on all continents so they must have endured before the continents split apart, perhaps as far back as 300 million years ago. Their most ancient relatives, the trilobites, existed over 500 million years ago in the Cambrian era. They have seven pairs of hooked legs.
Female isopods typically brood their fertilized eggs in a specialized abdominal pouch called a marsupium. When the eggs hatch, the young leave the marsupium. Typically, isopods carry about 20–30 developing eggs in their marsupium.
Isopods are an order of marine invertebrates (animals without backbones) that belong to the greater crustacean group of animals, which includes crabs and shrimp. Isopods are one of the most morphologically diverse of all the crustacean groups. They come in many different shapes and sizes, from micrometers to a half meter in length. They also live in many different types of habitat, from mountains and deserts to the deep sea. The most familiar isopod is probably the terrestrial pill bug (sow bug or wood louse), which can be found scurrying around any back yard in moist, dark conditions.
About half of the known species of isopods live in the ocean. Some are large and spiny and live in the deep sea, while others are very small and live as parasites on fish. Many more live in coastal and shelf waters, moving around on the sea floor or living in plants.
The "wharf roach," (Ligia exotica), is a common isopod often found running around on pier pilings and rocks at high tide. It is a scavenger that feeds on organic matter that it scoops up from rocks and pilings. This isopod is terrestrial, which means that it lives on land, growing to about 3 cm in length, Ligia exotica has large eyes and long antennae for sensing what is happening in its immediate environment. Also, it can run extremely fast.
Another marine isopod, Synidotea laevidorsalis must be submerged in water to breath, because its specialized breathing structures extract oxygen from water. Synidotea laevidorsalis can be found on boat-slip pylons among seaweed and hydroids; and it grows to about 2 cm in length. Like Ligia exotica, this isopod is a scavenger. The camouflage pattern on its body helps it to blend in with its environment, making it harder for hungry fish to pick it off of the seaweed. Also, it has tiny claws on each leg that help it cling to algae in the water, and it can swim between plants by flapping its paddle-shaped distal (positioned away from the central part of the body) appendages. (Data obtained from internet websites)
So, if you have a chance, please visit the Ostego Bay Foundation Marine Science Center on San Carlos Island at Fort Myers Beach and see this very rare specimen, along with some other marine items too.