News Animals

Giant, deep-sea roly-polies steal a gene to endure starvation

The football-sized crustaceans feast when they can, then slow their metabolism to a crawl

A high-definition armored-looking isopod crawls along sand

Giant deep-sea isopods, like Bathynomus giganteus (shown), have a superpower against starvation. New research suggests it may come in part from a stolen bacterial gene.

Violeta Sandulescu/500px/Getty Images

By Jake Buehler

A kilometer down in the ocean, football-sized roly-polies slowly clamber along the seafloor. Their metabolism is so slow that they can go years between meals.