sea spider Colossendeis wilsoni

Colossendeis wilsoni is found in Antarctica and the South Shetland Islands from depths of 36 to 801 meters [1,2,3]. C. wilsoni is small and compact, with short legs and short proboscis compared with many other Antarctic species [1].

The Colossendeis sea spiders are mostly giant deep-sea species though some Antarctic species live in shallow depths [1,4]. 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 [1,4].

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 [5]. Sea spiders are also called pycnogonids. Sea spiders are exclusively marine and mostly bottom dwelling (benthic) [4]. 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 [4]. 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 [4].

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: Fauna of the Ross Sea, Part 7. Pycnogonida, 1. Colossendeidae, Pycnogonidae, Endeidae, Ammotheidae. WG Fry & JW Hedgpeth. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin 198. New Zealand Oceanographic Insitute Memoir 49. 1969; 3: US National Museum Polar Invertebrate Catalog at http://www.nmnh.si.edu/iz/usap/usapdb.html; 4: Marine Fauna of New Zealand: Pycnogonida (Sea Spiders). CA Child.. Wellington : National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, 1998. NIWA Biodiversity Memoir 109; 5: Polar Biology 24:941-945, 2001

Colossendeis wilsoni Calman, 1915 identification by Roger Bamber, British Museum of Natural History. Text ©Peter Brueggeman. Photograph © Canadian Museum of Nature (Kathleen Conlan). Photograph may not be used in any form without the express written permission of Canadian Museum of Nature (Kathleen Conlan).