Flying crustacean

Flying crustacean Category Arthropoda Proposed scientific names Other names Country reported Philippines First reported 1914 Prominent investigators • Dean Worcester

The flying crustacean was a cryptid arthropod reported from the coasts of the Filippino island of Palawan, described by the American zoologist Dean Worcester (1866 – 1924), who claimed to have observed specimens "flying" out of the water on three occasions, in Bacuit Bay in December 1912, off Palawan and Lumbucan Island in August 1913, and again in Malampaya Sound, when he was accompanied by entomologist Willie Schulz. Worcester was certain that they were transparent crustaceans, shaped like crayfishes or shrimps, 5–9 in (15–25 cm) in length. They "flew" like flying fishes, rising sharply out of the water, and remaining airborne on a level plane for a short time, before dropping back into the sea. Although some planktonic copepods, such as Pontellina, are capable of "flying," these do not approach the reported size of Worcester's flying crustaceans.