| Summary: | Isopoda are crustaceans which possess seven pairs of legs of about equal size, are flattened dorsoventrally and have no carapace. The thoracic limbs are without exopodites, pleopods are modified for respiration and the antennual exopodite is absent or minute. The isopods are a large group and exhibit much variety. They vary in size from two or three millimeters to several centimeters. A giant deep-sea form, Bathynomus giganteus, from the Gulf of Mexico and Indian Ocean, attains a length of 30 cm. and width of about 10 cc. The natural habitat of isopods is in salt and fresh water or in moist situations in the case of most terrestrial forms. They have been found in warm springs and subterranean streams (Richardson, 1905). [.]
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