That’s right! It’s a Kiwa hirsuta!
A what?
Well, it’s a creature that was discovered last year in the South Pacific, near Easter Island, though they only just announced its existence.
It’s similar to a lobster or a crab, but it’s so odd that they had to come up with a new family and genus name for it.
It’s family name is Kiwaida, after the Polynesian goddess of crustaceans, Kiwa.
To the name Kiwa they added hirsuta, which is Latin for "hairy." (Duh! It’s the critter’s most distinctive feature!)
The creature is about 6 inches long and is white and has only a vestigial membrane in place of eyes, so it’s blind.
Colloquially, those who discovered have been calling it a hairy lobster or a yeti lobster or a yeti crab.
H. P. Lovecraft would be proud.
Oooohhh, it’s so C-U-U-U-TE!
Too bad it was blind.
I wish it could have lived! Poor thing!!!!
Unless it’s a hoax…
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Seriously, if the Easter Island folks can find a way to market a plush version of that thing, they’ll have a real moneymaker on their hands.
Hey, if they can make plush microbes…
There’s a crawfish that lives in the Green River area that has hairy antennae, but nothing to match this. I think it’s kind of cute and I’d buy a plush Kiwa hursuta.
I wonder what Lovecraft would have done with this and the squid thingy from a few months back?
Wow! Such fur on a crustacean! How mammalian!
Does that mean we can’t eat it on Fridays?
Seriously, is this a joke?
This is not a joke. Check the links in the main post.
Ah, the “fur” is really more like multiple whiskers – probably very handy when one is a blind crab.
wow that’s one ugly crab. hate to kill one of those