Giant isopod
Depth: 1,000 m · Midnight Zone
The giant isopod is a relative of the little woodlouse from the garden, but it grows over 30 centimeters long. It walks across the deep-sea floor and tidies up by eating dead animals that sink down from above.
For scientists
When threatened, Bathynomus rolls into a ball like a pillbug and shields its soft belly with its armored plates. Because food falling from above is rare in the deep, it gorges itself at a carcass and can then go years without starving. Its large compound eyes catch the last faint light, but it finds carrion mostly by smell.
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