sea spider Colossendeis drakei

Colossendeis drakei is found in Antarctica and the South Shetland Islands, South Sandwich Islands, South Georgia Island, Falkland Islands, and off Tasmania from depths of 3 to 3,000 meters [1,5].

The Colossendeis sea spiders are mostly giant deep-sea species though some Antarctic species live in shallow depths [1,2]. The Colossendeis sea spiders are the largest sea spiders with some having leg spans as wide as fifty centimeters and trunks of five centimeters or more [1,2].

C. drakei is one of only two Antarctic species with its proboscis shorter or equal to the length of its trunk [1]. The very short proboscis of C. drakei is rare, and the only similar species is C. hoeki, which has other character differences [3].

Antarctic and subantarctic sea spiders comprise 251 species, representing 21.5% of worldwide species, with 101 species endemic to Antarctica and 60 endemic to subantarctic areas [4]. Sea spiders are also called pycnogonids. Sea spiders are exclusively marine and mostly bottom dwelling (benthic) [2]. Adult sea spiders either suck the juices from soft-bodied invertebrates or browse on hydroids and bryozoans. Male sea spiders carry cemented egg clutches gathered from females until hatching and often after hatching in the larval stages [2]. Since sea spider larvae are not planktonic, sea spider dispersal is slow and intermittent leading to the development of many endemic species among shallow-water sea spiders [2].

1: Antarctic and Subantarctic Pycnogonida : Nymphonidae, Colossendeidae, Rhynchothoraxidae, Pycnogonidae, Endeididae, and Callipallenidae. CA Child Antarctic Research Series Volume 69, Biology of the Antarctic Seas 24. Washington DC : American Geophysical Union, 1995; 2: Marine Fauna of New Zealand: Pycnogonida (Sea Spiders). CA Child.. Wellington : National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, 1998. NIWA Biodiversity Memoir 109; 3: C Allan Child, personal communication, 2002; 4: Polar Biology 24:941-945, 2001; 5: Antarctic Science 13(2):144-149, 2001

Identification provided by C Allan Child. Text ©Peter Brueggeman. Photograph ©Norbert Wu. Photograph may not be used in any form without the express written permission of Norbert Wu. Norbert Wu no longer grants permission for uncompensated use of his photos under any circumstances whatsoever; want more info?