- They will eat just about anything
that they can get their mouths on.
Those four sets of jaws are extraordinarily sharp.
Does the isopod have a taste for human flesh?
Let's give it a quick try.
I can feel it poking around. Ah, its claws or digging in.
(water splashing) (intense music)
(sigh) Today is a big day for the Brave Wilderness channel
because in this video, we are about to have
our very first ever close encounter
with a deep sea creature.
Now I know what you're thinking.
Mark, where is the boat?
You've got to head way off shore to do something like that,
but I'm here to tell you, where we're going,
we don't need boats.
Welcome to Aquarium Encounters,
a unique interactive destination in Marathon, Florida
which also happens to be one of the only places
in the world to encounter the creature we're after today.
As I wander through the open layout of the aquarium
and pass by sharks and other incredible marine life,
I was in disbelief of what we were about to film
until I finally spotted the tank we were after
in the distance.
Wow. Are you kidding me?
Look at how cool these are!
I mean, I cannot believe we are standing
right in front of this many deep sea giant isopod.
This is something that you will probably not find
anywhere else on earth.
This is one of the only places in the world
to get hands-on with the deep sea isopod.
We've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
giant isopod in the tank in front of us
to learn all about in today's video.
Whoa, this is incredible.
I cannot believe we're standing in front of these creatures.
There are about 20 variety of them
that live in the Atlantic, the Pacific,
and the Indian Oceans,
very, very deep at the bottom.
We're talking anywhere from 700 to 7,000 feet.
Wow. That is deep.
And about half of the isopods on planet earth
live in the ocean and half of them live on land.
Although these are the largest isopods that you can find,
the ones that live in your backyard are those
small little pill bugs.
The roly-poly is related directly to the giant isopod.
Now, even though they look like it,
these isopods are not insects.
They're not bugs.
They are actually more closely related
to crabs and lobsters.
And oh boy, they are super weird looking,
I will admit, but man, are they cool.
If you were to come visit this aquarium,
anyone is allowed to touch the deep sea isopods.
This is a touch tank.
In fact, there are ports all around the top here
and yep, that water is cold.
Definitely kept below 50 degrees at all times.
But anyone can come up and pet the giant isopod.
But today we are getting extra special permission
to remove the top of the aquarium
and get really hands-on because I want to get
a giant isopod as close to the camera as possible.
Because these animals live in the deepest parts of the ocean
they need to keep their aquarium here as cold as possible.
So this water is kept around 50 degrees Fahrenheit
at all times to mimic the deepest parts of the ocean.
(sigh) All right, here goes nothing.
Time to get hands on with the giant isopod.
Ooh, this is creepy. Here we go.
Whoa. Oh man.
Wow.
Look at that.
Alien.
That is unbelievable.
Look at that face.
A face only a mother could love.
I think you're cool though. All right.
Why is the giant isopod so giant?
I mean, its cousin the roly-poly
is probably 1000th of its size.
Well, the most well-accepted theory is deep sea gigantism
which is found in a variety of animals,
most notably in the squid species.
Of course, you've probably heard of the giant squid
or the colossal squid that are huge.
Same goes with the giant isopod,
much, much larger than any of its terrestrial
or shallower relatives.
Now there are around 20 species
of large isopods that live in the deep sea,
but this one is the biggest.
And there are two size ranges.
There's giants and super giants.
A giant isopod will be anywhere from three to six inches
and a super giant like this one
can be up to two feet in length.
And I would say the one in front of us here
is approaching maximum size.
Look at that creature.
(laughs) This is too cool.
Now the exoskeleton is really rigid.
A lot like a lobster or a crab.
I can really feel the rigidity of those segments.
The underside is very soft.
I can actually press in on the belly of the beast.
That is wild.
I did not expect a giant isopod to have
softer parts like that.
And on the underside here, we have the pleopods
which can also be found on animals like lobsters.
And these are the swimming appendages of this animal.
Yes, believe it or not.
Although this looks like an insect
that can only crawl around, the giant isopod
is an excellent swimmer.
And what's also really cool about the pleopods
is these are the appendages
that allow the animal to breathe.
There's actually a gas exchange that occurs
in those parts of the animal.
The legs feel super creepy, but not that menacing.
Now we'll move up from the legs
and we want to take a closer look at that head.
So you'll notice the giant isopod has pretty big eyes.
In fact, their eyes are specially developed
for very dark environments.
When you get below a thousand feet in the ocean,
you enter what's called the midnight zone
where almost no light can travel.
So for their entire lives,
these animals live in almost complete darkness.
They have pretty poor eyesight.
They're not very responsive to light changes at all.
And they rely most of their lives on navigating around
and understanding their environment
through these four antennae appendages here.
There's two sets of antenna.
The small ones at the top are chemical sensing.
So this is what's going to help them find their food.
It's going to help them understand what other animals
or organic things are around them in the environment.
And then you have the feelers,
the two longer antenna underneath.
And these two antenna are used to feel their way
around their environment which is completely dark.
I'm having a fairly hard time hanging on to it.
It's definitely trying to get back down
to the bottom of the tank.
Its legs are equipped with these grappling hooks.
It's almost like a claw, like a lobster claw.
In fact, yeah, look at that.
It's got my finger in its front claws there
and they can actually squeeze down.
They can grapple on and what they use those claws for
are breaking apart their prey
and forcing the food to the mouth.
Yes, it looks strange.
And I can tell you it's diet is even stranger.
These are carnivorous creatures of the deep sea
and they will eat just about anything
that they can get their mouths on.
I'm talking deceased fish, I'm talking whales.
Researchers have even fed alligators to these animals
to see if they would eat something that's not native
to their environment.
And yes, they absolutely will.
And because of their appetite for all things deceased,
you're probably asking yourself what would happen
if a human ended up down there at the bottom of the sea?
Yes. as morbid as it sounds, if a human ends up
in their environment, it's on the menu too.
Now I want to find something out.
You know, obviously I've been keeping my fingers
and hands away from those mouth parts all video long.
But now it's time to find out.
Does the isopod have a taste for human flesh?
Should we find out? Let's give it a quick try.
You guys ready for this?
That water's cold.
And I know those mouth parts,
those four sets of jaws, are extraordinarily sharp.
Ooh, this is creepy.
So I'm gonna put the mouth right on my arm
and see what happens.
Ready? One, two, three.
Ah, you see it?
I can feel it poking around.
It's trying to figure out what's going on.
Oh, it's claws are digging in.
(water dripping)
Ah, water. So cold.
(air blowing)
Nothing.
Just wants to hang out.
And I wanted to show you that for a reason
because although these creatures can look menacing,
they are absolutely gentle giants
and they would never bite a human being
in this circumstance.
There's no need to fear this animal.
If you ever come out to this aquarium
I highly recommend that you check out
the giant isopod touch tank because getting hands-on
or even having the chance to touch an animal from the abyss
like this, is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.
All right. Well, my hands are freezing.
I'm gonna put our isopod friend here
back at the bottom of the tank.
I hope everybody at home enjoyed this look
at our first ever deep sea creature.
I'm Mark Vins.
Be brave.
Stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
Woo!
(birds chirping)