#isopods — Public Fediverse posts

Bathynomids are as strange as they get. Giant isopods live at crushing depths of the ocean which can also go about five years without eating. That last part gets even stranger: they can do that because they stole genes from microbes.

Link: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(26)00571-4

#DeepSea #Isopods #Ocean #Science

Giant, deep-sea roly-polies steal a #gene to endure starvation
The football-sized #crustaceans feast when they can, then slow their #metabolism to a crawl
These #Isopods are armored, oblong crustaceans. Long ago, the creatures stole a gene from a bacterium and welded it into their own set of DNA. This may help the crustaceans tolerate extremely long periods without food in the frigid, abyssal desert.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/big-deep-roly-polies-endure-starvation
https://archive.ph/LWdMd

Mixed media

I also picked up a cheapo microscope camera from the thrift store a while back, so here are some mid-quality closeups of the lil guys chomping away. They're so fun to watch! #bugs #pillbugs #armadillidae #isopods

(Marked as sensitive for folks who don't wanna see bug close-ups. I'll mention insects here too for filtering reasons, but these guys are actually land crustaceans!)

Deep-sea supergiant #isopods last years without food by using a two-part survival system
By combining multi-omics analyses with functional assays, the Chinese researchers discovered that #deepsea isopods have a dual survival strategy to cope with nutrient-poor (oligotrophic) conditions: an enlarged stomach that can store large amounts of food and an extremely low basal metabolic rate (BMR).The stomach of deep-sea isopods occupies about two-thirds of their entire body.
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-deep-sea-supergiant-isopods-years.html

In Russian terrestrial #isopods are called "мокрица" — "a small creature that likes wet places".

Way better than English "woodlouse".

💁🏻‍♀️ ICYMI: 🦐🦘 Roly polies are terrestrial #crustaceans that evolved from marine-dwelling ancestors.

They share a specific trait with #kangaroos because both carry their young in a brood pouch. Female pill bugs carry their #eggs and newly-hatched young in a special pouch called a marsupium.

👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/roly-poly-pillbug-marsupium-video

#animals #babies #birth #bugs #detritivores #mating #nature #parenting #insects #marsupials #isopods #evolution #science #wildlife #entomology #zoology #ecosystem #tksst #video

🦐🦘 Roly polies are terrestrial #crustaceans that evolved from marine-dwelling ancestors.

They share a specific trait with #kangaroos because both carry their young in a brood pouch. Female pill bugs carry their #eggs and newly-hatched young in a special pouch called a marsupium.

👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/roly-poly-pillbug-marsupium-video

#animals #babies #birth #bugs #detritivores #mating #nature #parenting #insects #marsupials #isopods #evolution #science #wildlife #entomology #zoology #ecosystem #tksst #video

#Isopods so they are definitely fully awake now... added some chicken bones.

I still don't know how many of them there are but probably in the 4 digit number range if I had to guess.

Aren't #isopods cute? :BlobhajTinyHeart:
https://isopod.site/

Ah yes, the riveting saga of #isopods globe-trotting from #Madagascar to #Montenegro 🌍🦐. Who knew these unassuming #crustaceans had a more robust #travel itinerary than even the most pretentious Instagram influencer? If only booking a vacation were as simple as listing continents and calling it a "site" 🤦‍♂️.
https://isopod.site/ #adventure #HackerNews #ngated

Isopods of the world

https://isopod.site/

#HackerNews #isopods #marinebiology #biodiversity #natureexploration #wildlife

I miss my pretty pillbugs (Montenegro isopods). Lost all my insects when I fed them a bad potato. Mentioned this elsewhere and someone said potatoes can be bad for them, but I see them recommended as food online. I didn't feed any with a green tint. Anyone know more about this?
#isopods #terrarium #pets

#Freelancers like me depend on support to survive and be productive, I much appreciate support for a coffee: ko-fi.com/sfwirth
I am performing #science, #sciencecommunication and #arts, often combining arts/science. My #topicrange is wide, it reaches from titan #isopods over the behaviors of the Mediterranean #Junebeetle and even over an #animated #video about the #Cambrianexplosion towards #phoretic #mites of the #Histiostomatidae. Here H. sp. from rotting #lemonfruits. Please support my work.

I am very happy to be part of and to see this review on #Isopoda and #Oniscidea (woodlice, terrestrial isopods) published in the #SoilOrganisms journal.

Many thanks to Konstantin Gongalsky & Pallieter De Smedt for leading this excellent work! 🎊

Read/download the review: https://doi.org/10.25674/466
And if you have Oniscidea data: SHARE THEM!

#OniscidBase #Isopods #Critters #SoilFauna #SoilMacroFauna #CallForData

I did a drawing of a deep sea isopod

#drawing #art #isopods #bugs #seabug