Supergiant Amphipod Discovered Near New Zealand
A giant white insect-like creature has been discovered in the ocean, which has baffled scientists who are at a loss at what it is.
The creature is 28 cm long and according to Scottish scientist Dr. Alan Jamieson, "It's a bit like finding a foot-long cockroach."
Jamieson was leading an expedition of Scottish, U.S. and New Zealand researchers to the Kermadec Trench, just north of New Zealand when the creature was found.
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According to New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) the creature is a "supergiant" amphipod. Amphipods are a very common crustacean found deep at sea, but are more normally found at a size of 2 to 3 cm. Sometimes a slightly larger "giant" amphipod has been known to be found, but this "supergiant" creature dwarfs anything ever recorded before.
The team of scientists was hoping to find a deep sea snailfish, which hadn't been captured since the 1950s.
"At the moment the traps came on deck we were elated at the sight of the snailfish as we have been after these fish for years. However, seconds later I stopped and thought 'What on earth is that?' whilst catching a glimpse of an amphipod far bigger than I ever thought possible," Jamieson, of the University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab, said in the statement.
"The surprising thing here is that we have already been to this deep trench twice and never come across these animals before. In fact a few days after the discovery we deployed all the equipment again on the same site and we failed to photograph or capture a single supergiant; they were there for a day and gone the next," he said.
