Giant isopods. Image: Flickr / Orin Zebest. ... That is, unless you go to a Taiwanese seafood market, because yes, these bad boys are edible and people do, in fact, eat them.

A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people queuing up—both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles.

Normally, giant isopods are thrown back into the ocean when caught. But a few years ago, a TV celebrity came aboard Hasegawa’s boat for an interview, and asked if they were edible.

The fisherman, who caught hagfish, often pulled up giant isopods as bycatch and would toss them back into the ocean. But when the celebrity asked if the isopod was edible, Hasegawa decided to ...

A new species of giant isopod, Bathynomus yucatanensis Huang et al. via Journal of Natural History. Giant isopods are like something out of a science fiction novel—these massive, ...

He says he is already investigating whether a similar crustacean from the South China Sea is a new species, suggesting the list of giant isopods will continue to grow. Journal of Natural History ...