What’s new: From the seafood markets of Vietnam, researchers have identified a species of giant crustacean or “sea bug” that’s new to science. They’ve named it Bathynomus vaderi, for its distinctly shaped head reminiscent of the helmet of Star Wars villain Darth Vader, according to a recently published study.

What the study says:

• Bọ biển or giant isopods, a type of large crustacean that live in cold, deep-sea waters and resemble woodlice, have become increasingly popular as an expensive local delicacy in Vietnam due to their lobster-like taste. In 2022, researchers from Hanoi University bought several specimens of these sea bugs from restaurants and local fishers in Quy Nhơn City in Central Vietnam, and sent them to crustacean experts for identification.

• The researchers identified most of the samples, obtained by trawlers and fishers on the Vietnamese side of the South China Sea, as the species Bathynomus jamesi. Known to reach up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) in length, B. jamesi is “the largest known supergiant species (and largest isopod) in the Indo-West Pacific,” the study’s authors write.

• However, the researchers observed that six of the samples had a noticeably different-shaped head and tail, and belonged to a species that was new to science. They dubbed this previously unidentified species Bathynomus vaderi after “the most famous Sith Lord in the Star Wars movie series, Darth Vader, whose helmet resembles the head of the new Bathynomus species.”

• The authors write that it’s not possible to identify the exact location where trawlers collected the newly described species. However, the dealers who sold them the samples told them that the individuals were collected from deep waters off Vietnam, near the Spratly Islands, an archipelago in the South China Sea that’s the subject to overlapping territorial claims.

What this means:

The discovery of B. vaderi from seafood dealers in Vietnam suggests there’s still a lot to learn about the lives of giant isopods. The impact of harvesting the sea bugs for consumption is also not known well, study co-author Conni Sidabalok of Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency, told New Scientist.

“It’s a challenge for all deep-sea species we fish,” she said. “We know so little about their biology, so we need more studies to evaluate how best to conserve and manage this resource.”

Banner image of Bathynomus vaderi’s head, courtesy of Nguyen Thanh Son.