Geographical Distribution of Scavenging Giant Isopods Bathynomids in the Northwestern Pacific

Abstract

A giant isopod Bathynomus döderleini, captured by the baited trap in the Kumano-nada region, central Japan, was investigated to elucidate its geographical distribution and bathymetric occurrence.
B. döderleini is distributed mainly at depths from 250m to 550m and completely absent from the traps set in the water shallower than 150m. So these bathynomids are classified as the littoral-bathyal benthos. The abundance of specimens of B. döderleini appears to be dependent on the topographic features of bottom.
Summing up the informations known to date, B. döderleini has not been found from the marginal seas of the northwestern Pacific, and then its geographical distribution accords with the warm Kuroshio Current area along the Pacific coasts of Japan.