5 years ago

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Vampire Sea Spider

Creeping and crawling on the ocean floor is a creature you wouldn’t expect to be there. On this episode we bring you the sea spider.

Pantopoda or pycnogonids are marine arthropods or spiders of the sea. Having 1300 known species these critters exist all around the world including oceans, lakes and rivers. They range in size from 1 mm across to 2.3 feet or 70 cm in size. The majority are on the small end of this scale with the larger ones being in the Antarctic and deep waters. They can be found as deep at 3 miles or almost 5 km deep. While called sea spiders they aren’t true spiders as they are classified in chelicerates group.

Having a small body with long legs, sea spiders usually have 4 pairs of legs or 8 total but there are species with more up to 12 legs. Their thin body, legs and overall size doesn’t require them to have a respiratory system, as gasses move by diffusion. A proboscis, or long tube mouth, allows them to suck in nutrients from soft bodied invertebrates with their digestive tract having diverticula extending into their legs. Sponges, calamari and sea slugs are at the top of the menu for these vampire like sea spiders.

Catching their prey with waterproof webs, the sea spider will quite literally suck the life force from their prey.

The smallest species of sea spiders are so small that some of their muscles are only a single cell covered by connective tissue. Their eyes are located on the exoskeleton in pairs but sometimes having single eyes in those pairs missing among larger deep ocean sea spiders. Oxygen is absorbed by the legs and transported via the hemolymph to the rest of the body. Their tiny hearts beat at 90 to 180 beats per minute which provides circulation to the upper portions of their legs but not to the tips of them. Peristaltic movement of the legs is what creates hemolymph circulation for the rest of the legs.

Current fossil specimens we have today date back to 160 million years ago. These fossilized sea spiders appear to be an ancient species we don’t see on earth today. While still in debate it appears the sea spiders of today are the last remaining members of an ancient creature of past.

Footage:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/oceanexplorergov/35672583973
https://www.flickr.com/photos/oceanexplorergov/28129535679
https://www.flickr.com/photos/oceanexplorergov/42664869524
https://www.photolib.noaa.gov/bigs/expl2434.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ideonexus/2896284669
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReRb_PMoptI

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