Male Giant Isopod in Japan Fasts for 4 Years

A male giant isopod in Japan, simply known as No. 1, has not ingested any food for more than four years. Shocking but true! The creature, which  is generally known as the scavenger of the deep, is kept at the Toba Aquarium in Mie Prefecture.

The male giant isopod ate its last meal Jan. 2, 2009, which consisted of a horse mackerel which it gulped down in just five minutes. This year, Feb. 10, 2013 marked 1,500 days without food.

Reports according to the Japan Daily press suggest that isopods have adapted themselves to staying without food for long periods of time. But when food is presented before them, they feed voraciously on it. But the case is different with No.1. Takaya Moritaki, who is given the responsibility to feed the giant isopods at the aquarium, tempted No.1 with a whole mackerel in front of the media. He even placed a dead fish in front its face. But none managed to break No.1's hunger strike. Though the giant isopod initially moved toward the fish and poked it with its front legs and rubbed its face into it, it didn't eat anything. The keepers at the aquarium are familiar with this trick of No.1.

Since then, the keepers are worried about the health of the 29cm-long isopod that pretends to eat but finally ignores the food that is offered. Though the giant isopod looks healthy, his weakened state worries the keepers.

"Giant isopods are always in a state of semi hibernation because they do not know when they can eat, so they limit their energy on breathing and other activities," a marine biologist from Mie University in Japan was quoted as saying in Counsel & Heal. "For that purpose they sometimes keep large amount of fat in their livers, so may No.1 still has a source of energy in its body, and that's why it still has no appetite."

The keepers at the aquarium keep the giant isopods in a tank that contains artificial seawater, which makes it less likely for the isopods to generate organic substances such as plankton and sea algae which they can feed on.