Tasmanian Sea Spider

2003/06/26 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia
• Ozeanografia

The sea spider of the photo has been captured in Tasmanian waters by researchers from Australia and New Zealand. This animal is called a giant sea spider, although the group has nothing to do with terrestrial spiders. They form a class of picnogonids and are not real spiders. The image is about 30 centimeters.

These marine animals have ten or twelve long legs, small body and large mouth. The body is so small that it has several organs in the legs. The legs are used to walk on soft soils or swim and feed on invertebrates that live together, anemones, corals and the like.

Giant specimens such as the image live in deep bottoms, have been found at 7.4 kilometers and the older ones can reach 50 cm.

Researchers from Australia and New Zealand have been studying Tasmanian seabed for a month. A total of 500 new fish species and some 1,300 invertebrates have been found. Along with living beings, they have discovered the fossil teeth of a missing shark and the volcanoes turned off.