2
The female will usually lay the eggs on the ground with some exeptions, to which they hatch as a larva to which they fend for themselves
Life Cycle
Brusca, Richard. "A Monograph on the Isopoda Cymothoidae (Crustacea) of the Eastern Pacific." 1981. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://www.desertmuseum.org/center/seaofcortez/docs/brusca_1981_cymothoidae.pdf>.
(5)
"Socorro Isopod (Thermosphaeroma thermophilus)." Beacham's Guide to the Endangered Species of North America. Ed. Walton Beacham, Frank V. Castronova, and Suzanne Sessine. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Science in Context. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/scic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=SCIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&u=scottsdale_hq&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=SCIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CCV2644400459>.
(4)
"Giant Isopod." Aquarium of the Pacific. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/giant_isopod>.
(1)
The Cymothoa exigua is a parasite that cuts off the tongue of the fish, to which it attaches itself to the stub and becomes the new tongue (5)
The Socorro isopod lives in the water of New Mexico (4)
The Cymothoa exigua is between 0.3 and 1.1in for the female and for the male it is between 0.3 and 0.6in (5)
Giant isopodes
grow between
7.5 to 14.2 in (1)
The Socorro Isopod has an avergae length of 0.32in or 0.81cm (4)
The Madison Cave Isopod has a maximum length of 0.6in or 1.5cm (3)
The Madison cave isopod lives in the water of Virginia and West Virginia (3)
"Isopod." Britannica Library. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://library.eb.com/levels/referencecenter/article/42962>.
(2)
Sources
The Socorro Isopod lays between 3 to 57 eggs every two months (4)
Habitat
Giant isopods
inhabit depths of
170 to 2140m (1)
The reproduction of the Cymothoa exigua is currently not known (5)
Size
For the Giant isopod the females develop a pouch above her stomach and internal organs known as a marsupium where 20 to 30 eggs are stored until hatched (1)
"Madison Cave Isopod (Antrolana lira)." Beacham's Guide to the Endangered Species of North America. Ed. Walton Beacham, Frank V. Castronova, and Suzanne Sessine. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Science in Context. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/scic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=SCIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&u=scottsdale_hq&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=SCIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CCV2644400457>.
(3)
Giant isopods are carnivores and it is widely believed they are scavengers (1)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Subclass: Eumalacostraca
Superorder: Peracarida
Order: Isopoda
Reproduction( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Diet
The reproduction of the Madison Cave Isopod is currently unknown (3)
The Madison Cave Isopod only eats detritus (3)
Like the pillbugs when threatened, giant isopods have the ability to curl up into a ball so that only the tough exterior shell is exposed and the sensitive interior is protected (1)
Behavior
The Cymothoa exigua will either feed off the blood of the host, or feed off the mucus (5)
Adaptations
The Socorro Isopod eats both algae and detritus (4)
For the Madison cave isopod it has a pair of legs that are modified for grasping and has two pairs of antennae - one long pair and one short pair (3)
For the Madison Cave Isopod it is believed that females may hide in the leaf litter in the bottom of the fissures or in the inaccessible channels since females carrying eggs have never been found (3)
For the Socorro isopod the abdomen is formed of two distinct segments and it has oar-like extensions (uropods) on the last segment (4)
Giant isopods have developed large antennae that they use to find their way and prey as they crawl along the dark seafloor (1)
The male Socorro isopods guard females prior to copulation, through the molting period ,brood sizes range from three to 20 eggs, and gestation is about three weeks (4)