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  • Mon. Nov 4th, 2024
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An international team of marine biologists recently discovered a unique isopod, a form of crustacean, that has been formally identified as a new species of the genus Booralana.

About Isopod:

  • Isopods are an order of invertebrates (animals without backbones) that belong to the greater crustacean group of animals, which includes crabs and shrimp.
  • Scientists estimate that there are around 10,000 species of isopods (all belonging to the order “Isopoda”). 
  • They also live in many different types of habitats, from mountains and deserts to the deep sea, and they are distributed worldwide.
  • Features:
    • They are one of the most morphologically diverse of all the crustacean groups, coming in many different shapes and sizes and ranging from micrometres to a half-metre in length.
    • Isopods often do not look alike, but they do have common features. For example, all isopods have two pairs of antennae, compound eyes, and four sets of jaws.
    • The body of all isopods consists of seven segments, each with its own pair of walking legs.
    • Isopods have a short abdominal section composed of six segmentscalled “pleons,” and one or more of these segments is fused into a tail section.
    • About half of the known species of isopods live in the ocean. Others live in coastal and shelf waters, moving around on the seafloor or living in plants.
    • Most are free-living, but a number of marine species are parasitic on other animals.

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