Vietnam’s new giant sea beetle is sold as seafood

The giant sea beetle’s scientific name is Bathynomus vaderi belong Bathynomus, belongs to the genus of giant equidfoot beetles that live in deep cold water environments. This is a “super large” beetle, weighing more than a kilogram and measuring 32.5 cm long. The word “vederi” in their name comes from the iconic helmet-like head of the character Darth Vader in the Star Wars series. The study was published on January 15 in the journal ZooKeys.

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son, Department of Biology, University of Natural Sciences, Hanoi National University said “this is an accidental discovery”. It was in 2022 that Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Anh Duc, University of Natural Sciences, bought 4 individual sea beetles in Quy Nhon for research. Then Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son, along with Prof. Peter Ng and Dr. Conni M. Sidabalok, Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum of the National University of Singapore, collaborated on research. By early 2023, the team had determined it was a new species to science.

Dr. Son said, this species lives on the seabed, usually at a depth of more than 500 m. Currently, they are caught for food and are high-priced seafood.

Bathynomus is becoming increasingly popular in Vietnam as a delicious dish, compared to lobster in terms of meat quality. The price of sea beetles (0.6 – 0.8kg/fish) is about 1.1 million VND/kg; size more than 1kg/head, priced at 1.5 million VND/kg.

During the survey of sea beetles sold at some seafood stores in some localities, the authors found that there were two different species. Most individual sea beetles being sold are species-specific Bathynomus jamesiwas Kou, Chen & Li published in 2017, and individuals Bathynomus vaderi meet very little.

Standard specimen of the species Bathynomus vaderi Currently stored in two museums: Museum of Biology (University of Natural Sciences, Hanoi National University) and Lee Kong Chian Museum of Natural History (National University of Singapore).