ROLLING IN THE DEEP

The super-sized crustacean that lives in the deepest, darkest ocean

- Nick Baker

Just imagine a world where familiar minibeasts were not so small; where you could really appreciate their marvellous micromechanics and delicious details without needing a magnifying lens.

You might think that a woodlouse the size of a cat is in the realm of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids science fiction, but it does in fact exist – not under a flowerpot in your garden, but in the cold reaches of the world’s oceans.

The giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus) isn’t exactly a woodlouse, but there are many parallels. They both have a hard exoskeleton, 14 walking legs, and gills, and share a similar lifestyle, which is mostly a relatively sedate and simple affair.

The largest of about 20 species in the genus