'I Am Your Father' Looks Like Darth Vader... What Does the Vietnamese Delicacy Look Like?

A Head Resembling the Star Wars Character Darth Vader
Inspired by This, the Scientific Name Is 'Bathynomus vaderi'

An international research team led by Vietnam National University has discovered a new giant crustacean species in local waters. When viewed from the front, this creature's silhouette resembles the iconic character 'Darth Vader' from the movie 'Star Wars,' drawing significant attention.

The international research team led by Professor Nguyen Tan Son of Vietnam National University (VNU) announced on the 15th in the zoological journal 'ZooKeys' that a previously unreported new species of giant isopod crustacean has been discovered.

This crustacean was caught in the Nansha Islands waters and has been used as food until now, but it has not been reported in academic circles. It is an invertebrate inhabiting Vietnamese waters and belongs to the genus Bathynomus, a giant isopod crustacean.

Batinomus Baidery (above) and Star Wars character Darth Vader. Yonhap News, Lucasfilm capture

The research team named it Bathynomus vaderi, inspired by the fact that the animal's head shape, when viewed from the front, resembles Darth Vader's helmet.

Bathynomus vaderi has so far only been found near the Nansha Islands in Vietnam, but it is highly likely to inhabit other areas of the South China Sea as well. This animal has already become a delicacy among local fishermen. Local fishermen occasionally catch Bathynomus vaderi along with fish and other sea creatures.

Until 2017, Bathynomus vaderi was called a 'sea worm' among fishermen and was sold cheaply as bycatch seafood. However, as its popularity increased, commercial fishing has recently been actively conducted, and it is reportedly distributed alive in markets of major Vietnamese cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang.

The research team stated, "The discovery of such an unfamiliar species like Bathynomus vaderi in Vietnamese waters shows how little we know about the deep-sea environment," adding, "Much research is still needed to reveal the biodiversity of Southeast Asian waters."

Recently, there have been increasing efforts to develop deep-sea habitats near the South China Sea for oil and gas extraction and mineral mining. Regarding this, the research team emphasized, "The need for deep-sea biodiversity research has become even greater," and stressed, "Protecting giant isopod crustaceans like Bathynomus vaderi adds another challenge."