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(PARIS) - A team of American-led 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, was so distinct from other species that they created a new family and genus for it.

The divers found the animal in waters 7,540 feet deep at a site 900 miles south of Easter Island last year, according to 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 6 inches long — about the size of a salad plate.

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 that 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.


Copyright 2006 Associated Press, All rights reserved.

now all we have to do is boil it and find a sauce that's complimentary.

darkpuppet,Mar 10 2006, 09:33 AM Wrote:now all we have to do is boil it and find a sauce that's complimentary.
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Yeah but who's gonna shave the damn thing before eating it? Eyuck :blink:

NefCanuck

NefCanuck,Mar 10 2006, 10:50 AM Wrote:Yeah but who's gonna shave the damn thing before eating it?
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I could swear Paparoach said that exact line one day a long time ago. ;)

Yeah... that looks gross. Thank god I don't dive, I wouldn't wanna have to see those swimming around. :ph34r:

darkpuppet,Mar 10 2006, 02:33 PM Wrote:now all we have to do is boil it and find a sauce that's complimentary.
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hit it old school, hair and all.... you remember your teenage years don't ya :lol:

euro_zx5,Mar 10 2006, 10:36 AM Wrote:Yeah... that looks gross. Thank god I don't dive, I wouldn't wanna have to see those swimming around. :ph34r:
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you should try muff diving. the ladies love it :lol:

Oscar The Grouch,Mar 10 2006, 10:03 AM Wrote:

NefCanuck,Mar 10 2006, 10:50 AM Wrote:Yeah but who's gonna shave the damn thing before eating it?
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I could swear Paparoach said that exact line one day a long time ago. ;)
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...oh geez it never dawned on me how bad that sentence could sound until you pointed it out :blink: Oopsie :ph34r:

NefCanuck

Did anyone else come in here with a different idea of what this topic might be about. I know i did and it was prolly closer to what meford was talking about.