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September 25, 2020: Sea Spider

This sea spider, or pycnogonid, was seen while exploring Physalia Seamount during the Our Deepwater Backyard: Exploring Atlantic Canyons and Seamounts 2014 expedition. This was one of several sea spiders observed feeding using a proboscis-like mouth. Luckily for arachnophobes, despite their common name, sea spiders aren’t actually spiders, but instead are distant relatives belonging to a separate class (Pycnogonida) in the phylum Arthropoda.

Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Exploring Atlantic Canyons and Seamounts 2014. Download larger version (jpg, 1.5 MB).

This sea spider, or pycnogonid, was seen while exploring Physalia Seamount during the Our Deepwater Backyard: Exploring Atlantic Canyons and Seamounts 2014 expedition. This was one of several sea spiders observed feeding using a proboscis-like mouth. Luckily for arachnophobes, despite their common name, sea spiders aren’t actually spiders, but instead are distant relatives belonging to a separate class (Pycnogonida) in the phylum Arthropoda.

Also of interest, this particular dive, which took place on October 1, 2014, was the first-ever remotely operated vehicle exploration of Physalia Seamount; prior to the dive, Physalia was the last unexplored seamount on the East Coast inside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone.

Want to know more about seamounts? Check out the Seamounts Education Theme page.