Giant Crustacean Found in Ocean Trench

Scientists looking for deep-sea life off the coast of New Zealand were amazed when their traps yielded several specimens of a "supergiant" crustacean not seen for decades. The amphipods—sometimes called the "insects of the sea"—were more than 10 inches long, 20 times as big as typical amphipod species. They were plucked from four miles down in the Kermadec Trench, one of the world's deepest ocean trenches.

"It's a bit like finding a foot-long cockroach," said one of the researchers. "I stopped and thought: 'What on Earth is that?' This amphipod was far bigger than I ever thought possible." The expedition's traps also brought up a species of deep-sea snailfish that hasn't been seen since 1952, the Christian Science Monitor reports. (More ocean stories.)