New "Hairy Lobster" Crustacean Discovered and Classified

AviLazar writes "American-led divers discovered a new type of Crustacean, that resembles a lobster but has it's claws covered in 'sinuous, hair-like strands'. This species is so different, from other Crustacean's that it was classified with a new Family name: Kiwaida. Unfortunately for the Kiwaida, the AP is already using this blind creature and a salad plate in the same sentence."

Hairs

[Billosaur]

The "hairs" are probably not what we think of as hair, but probably serve as some kind of sensory system, to detect the movement of currents or perhaps the movement of prey nearby, since according to the article: "It's also blind. The researchers found it had only 'the vestige of a membrane' in place of eyes, Segonzac said."

Re:Why hairy?

[jhines]

From the BBC article another user posted, the hairs house lots of filter bacteria which make the toxic mineral vent water paleteable.

Re:Hairs

[Spectre]

Apparently the Intelligent Designer that came up with the "eye that could not possibly have randomly evolved" forgot about this beastie.

Is it tasty though?

[linzeal]

A lot of deep sea creatures have ammonia in them for anti-freeze and are not very tasty.

Re:Great! But, the family name is incorrect.

[cutedinochick]

Well, maybe they say "family" for simplicity but perhaps it's a subfamily or who knows. Besides, they're not using the Linnaean system so much anymore so even using words like "family" and whatnot is on its way out. Most families end in -idae (pronounced -idee), but there are exceptions and with the different hierarchical levels becoming less and less distinct (are orders, etc. equivalent across taxa?) and recognized, that "rule" is also losing favor. The hierarchy doesn't make much sense nowadays, and there are so damn many nomenclatural rules to follow that some of the less important ones eventually fade from use.

Or it may be a mispelling.

Re:just what i need

[Smurf]

But seriously... what else are you eating that causes hairs to get stuck in your teeth?

Well, mangos, you pervert!

Seriously, some varieties of mango have in their flesh lots of annoying fibrous hairs connected to the seed. If you try to eat the fruit directly, those hairs get stuck in your teeth. Did I mention those mango varieties are absurdly cheap?

In some tropical countries there's a sex position called "the mango": just like the 69, but with hairs between the teeth. Really!

Re:Evolution at work

[isopodz]

In fact, those hairs are cuticular hairs, and probably not sensory. Other crustaceans have similar hairs, but this species just has a lot on the first legs. An isopod crustacean, Peludo [usyd.edu.au], also has a lot of cuticular hairs. I wonder if this is indeed a new family, as it looks like other members of the galatheid group.

Re:just what i need

[Mateito]

> But seriously... what else are you eating that causes hairs to get stuck in your teeth?

Anything prepared on a street stall in Mexico. I reckon they put the hair in it to show that its freshly prepared.

Having said that, I found a hair in a packet of ready-to-eat curry the other day.