Giant sea spider in Antarctica

With 8 long legs and matching taps, the giant sea spiders in the polar region are bigger than the spiders everywhere else in the world.

The sea spider in Antarctica has a 25cm stride.(Photo: Rick Price / Corbis).

According to National Geographic, Antarctic sea spiders belong to the class of arthropods in the sea. Sea spiders are everywhere on Earth. While in other places, they are usually small in size, Antarctic sea spiders have strides up to nearly 25cm.

A group of US researchers hypothesized that the size of such a large Antarctic sea spider was higher due to higher dissolved oxygen concentrations in cold water , reported Hakai Magazine on December 29. High oxygen levels are associated with slow metabolism due to cold temperatures, enabling sea spiders to develop their body size.

Scientists collected spiders in the Antarctic seabed with temperatures between -1.5 and -1.8 ºC. They tested them at temperatures with different dissolved oxygen levels. The results are consistent with the hypothesis they give. Sea spiders are negatively affected by low oxygen levels.