1 Old World genus of isopod crustaceans.

2 The researchers documented many new isopod species from the thousands of specimens collected. Some species were represented by just a single animal.

3 The isopod pictured above was one of these needles, found by a team surveying waters around Antarctica.

4 The isopod pictured above, for example, is but one of some 600 new species of these woodlouse -like creepy crawlies.

5 Related to shrimp and crabs, the giant isopod is a deep-sea crustacean that makes its home on the ocean floor.

6 The beast normally lives 8, 500ft under water and this specimen is thought to be the largest giant isopod ever found at this depth.

7 The Census of Marine Life's ambitious goal is to document all life in the oceans, a task made even harder by creatures that are very difficult to tell apart, such as this little isopod.

8 More to the point, though, is that as Polarstern pursued its mission during the summers of 2002 and 2005, the rate at which new isopod species were discovered did not decline.

9 That suggests biology has only scratched the surface of isopod diversity—and in the grand scheme of things, isopods are a pretty obscure group.

10 Shelled invertebrates also have a home in the collection, including a giant marine isopod (pill bug) from the deep sea below.