{"id":908013,"date":"2026-09-24T15:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T15:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/908013\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T15:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T15:48:14","slug":"red-eyed-parasitic-hairy-legged-sea-spiders-of-the-salish-sea-go-under-the-microscope-in-vancouver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/908013\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-eyed, parasitic, hairy-legged sea spiders of the Salish Sea go under the microscope in Vancouver"},"content":{"rendered":"

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An ocean-dwelling, hairy-legged, red eyed, parasitic sea spider sounds like the kind of monster that might pay you a visit during the throes of a very bad dream.<\/p>\n

But these creepy-sounding creatures inhabit planet earth \u2014 in fact, researchers recently discovered two new species of them in southern B.C.’s Salish Sea.<\/p>\n

“This region is really under-studied for a lot of marine invertebrates, but particularly sea spiders,” said the University of British Columbia’s Cormac Toller-Scott, who conducted the work as part of his master\u2019s degree in zoology.<\/p>\n

“They are related to terrestrial spiders, but they evolved long before terrestrial spiders\u2026 and never left the oceans.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said only 20 species of sea spider had been documented in the Salish Sea and Vancouver Island region.<\/p>\n

Between September 2023 and August 2024, Toller-Scott and a team of researchers conducted dives up to 18 metres deep in a range of marine habitats in the area, including at Quadra Island, Vancouver, Bamfield, and Victoria.<\/p>\n

\"CormacCormac Toler-Scott was the lead author on the sea spider research, conducted as part of his master\u2019s degree in zoology at UBC. (CBC News)<\/p>\n

“We collected as many different species as we could\u2026 and we looked at really fine-detail characteristics of the body, and compared that to every other species of sea spider that has been described in the world,” Toller-Scott said.<\/p>\n

“And then we also collected genetic data and we compared that genetic data with data from other species.”<\/p>\n

Once they had examined the samples, the team realized that two of the collected species had never been documented before.<\/p>\n

They were found on an underwater organism called a hydroid, described as being “like a jellyfish that is attached to the ground.”<\/p>\n

“They never really leave it, they just walk around on it,” Toller-Scott said.<\/p>\n

“They feed on it by eating little pieces of it with their proboscis. So you could consider them a parasite of that larger organism.”<\/p>\n

One species was named Callipallene pilosuspedes, a play on Latin for “hairy feet”, after the fine spines covering its lower legs.<\/p>\n

\"AOne of the new species is named Callipallene pilosuspedes, a play on Latin for “hairy feet.” (Cormac Toler-Scott)<\/p>\n

The other, Tanystylum kiixin, is named after an Indigenous village site near where specimens were collected.<\/p>\n

Last year, a team of UBC researchers led by biologist Shana Goffredi discovered three new species of sea spider <\/a>that live exclusively near methane seeps and hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor.<\/p>\n

They demonstrated a remarkable ability to grow “monocultures” of bacteria that transformed methane, a greenhouse gas, into life-sustaining nutrients.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Goffredi described the discovery as “a happy accident,” as she had initially set out to study methane seeps.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"PlumulariaThe plumularia setacea, or “little sea bristle,” provides a place for the sea spiders live and feed on. (Cormac Toler-Scott)<\/p>\n

Toller-Scott said taxonomic research projects like his sea-spider one tended not to receive much funding, despite playing a crucial role in scientific advancements.<\/p>\n

“Taxonomy is really important for understanding the foundation of a place, so that you can ask bigger questions,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There are many new species out there waiting to be found, especially along the West Coast of Canada, which is one of the most diverse coastlines in the world.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-908013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}