pantopods
in the reef
aquarium
SEA SpIdERS
Spiders in the coral reef aquarium? The sea spiders of the subphylum Chelicerata are
not crustaceans, and are closely related to spiders and scorpions. Let’s take a closer
look at this unusual group of coral reef inhabitants. — by dr. Maik Friedrich
ea spiders are usually extremely slender and have legs extending up to their armpits. No, I’m
not talking about the half-starved fashion models that adorn the covers of glossy magazines.
I would much rather tell you about a group of creatures about which opinions are definitely
divided. Although beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, I can confidently state that these
creatures are never going to win a beauty contest, at least from a human viewpoint, even
though they include some fabulously colored species. They remind us of those well-known, eight-legged creepy-crawlies that are often feared without justification and have anything but a good reputation: spiders The word alone might send cold shivers down your spine. Even if it doesn’t, you may
get that feeling when suddenly confronted with such a creature in your own reef aquarium.
S
Sea SpiderS are not cruStaceanS
At least that was my experience when, full of excitement, I was observing my newly purchased,
brightly colored colony of zooanthids, whose polyps were still closed. There it was in the midst of the
polyps—a sea spider! To my mind, these animals are among the most unusual and amazing creatures
the sea has to offer, and utterly fascinating from a biological viewpoint. A sea spider looks like a short
rod with eight long, jointed walking legs. In fact, these bizarre creatures consist almost entirely of
their extremities. This is also the derivation of their scientific name, “pantopods,” which translates
roughly as “all legs.”
The short body consists of a segmented anterior part (the prosoma) and a tiny abdomen, the
so-called opisthosoma. The latter is, in fact, so small that it is incapable of accommodating any
