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The newly discovered crustacean species Kiwa hirsuta – Image: AP |
A team of divers has discovered a new crustacean species in the South Pacific that resembles shrimp and is covered with a fine layer of golden hair.
Scientists state that this animal, named Kiwa hirsuta, is significantly different from the species they have previously identified and classified.
The divers reported that this creature lives at a depth of 2.3 kilometers beneath the surface, at a location 1,440 kilometers from Easter Island.
This new crustacean species has been described in the journal of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. It is white and measures only 15 centimeters in length. According to Michel Segonzac from the French Institute of Sea Exploration, Kiwa hirsuta is blind, with only “traces of a membrane” where its eyes would be.
Researchers highlight that while many ocean-dwelling species are discovered every year, this newly identified crustacean is quite rare and may be considered a member of a new family named Kiwaidae, derived from the name Kiwa, the goddess of crustaceans in Polynesian mythology.
T.VY
