Discover Bathynomus vaderi, a newly identified giant isopod species from Vietnam’s deep seas, named after Darth Vader.

A marine crustacean that looks like Darth Vader’s helmet has been recognised as a new species, but it could be under threat from trawling due to its popularity in Vietnamese restaurants

A purchase at an urban Vietnamese fish market turned out to be a whole new species of giant isopod –with a bit of a dark side. The foot-long crustacean has been named Bathynomus vaderi and sports a head that resembles the iconic helmet of Darth Vader from the Star Wars.

Experts decided to name the species Bathynomus vaderi not only because its face looks like Darth Vader's helmet, but also because the creature is thought to live around 1000 metres underwater, where it is extremely dark.

Researchers newly identified a “supergiant” sea bug species off the coast of south-central Vietnam, but scientists worry about its vulnerability to overfishing.

"That a species as large as this could have stayed hidden for so long reminds us just how much work we still need to do to find out what lives in Southeast Asian waters." In recent years, sea bugs have become a Vietnamese delicacy.

Giant isopods, which belong to the Bathynomus genus, can grow to be over 11 inches, but the biggest ones reach nearly 20 inches in length . Bathynomus vaderi's size puts in the su