Furry Blonde Lobster

You know how every now and then while channel surfing your remote lands on the Discovery Channel while they're showing a program about some deep sea expedition where they're studying hydrothermal tubes that eject a constant stream of brilliantly hot air from the earth's core? Well, if you haven't they do. Scientists and marine biologists have been studying the kind of life that develops in these weird and extreme environments that are as dark as they are hot.

Until recently, I thought the most disgusting life form discovered during these explorations had been the tubeworm. But I was wrong. In the news today, I read the story about the furry crustacean called Kiwa hirsuta, from the genus Kiwaida, named for Kiwa, goddess of crustaceans in Polynesian mythology. The Kiwa hirsuta was found about 7500 feet deep in the ocean, 900 miles south of Easter Island.

Now I know some of you are going to think it's cute but every time I look at a picture of this thing, I feel a little bit nauseous.