Ocean explorers have shared creepy footage of underwater spiders, revealing some of the secrets of these insidious marine invertebrates – including that they slurp up their prey like a smoothie.
"If you’re afraid of spiders, I’m so sorry to tell you this but you’re not even safe in the ocean,” says OceanX, who shared the footage on Instagram.
There are over 1,300 species of sea spider (Pycnogonida) found in every ocean on the planet – from the tropics to the poles (although they’re more abundant in polar regions), and from rockpools and shallow waters to the deep sea. According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, these critters “might be as small as a grain of sand or as long as a house cat.”
Although they are related to both spiders and crabs, pycnogonids aren’t true spiders. They “have been evolving on their own for hundreds of millions of years,” says Monterey Bay Aquarium, and have developed their own unique qualities.
Sea spiders usually have eight legs but some species can have up to 12. They use their long, thin limbs to walk along the seafloor without getting stuck in the sediment, and to swim through the water. But their legs have some other bizarre uses. “Their bodies are so small that all their organs are stored in their legs,” says OceanX. Females even store eggs in their legs.
"They also absorb oxygen in the water through their leg exoskeletons,” adds OceanX.
Perhaps the most horrifying thing about these animals is how they eat. Sea spiders use a tube called a proboscis to feed on soft-bodied animals, such as worms or sea anemones. They pierce the bodies of their prey with this proboscis “and they’ll suck up the guts and bodily fluids to ingest,” says OceanX, like slurping up a smoothie.
Studying the “mysterious world of sea spiders” helps us understand how they have evolved and adapted over millions of years, says OceanX: "Every discovery like this deepens our understanding and appreciation of life in our oceans, inspiring us to protect these vital yet vulnerable habitats.”
Main image: Sea spider (Pycnogonida)/OceanX
More wild stories from around the world
- This underwater robot just ran into something bizarre at the junction of three vast tectonic plates
- Deep-sea scientists just filmed something enormous swimming over the seafloor in Chile
- The world’s largest wildlife crossing is now standing in California
- Something critical has just been found at the bottom of a lake in Yellowstone National Park
