Where Does a Sea Spider Live?

Life abounds in the ocean and fresh water that surrounds planet earth. The obvious sea creatures that everyone is aware of include fish, whales and crustaceans. However, other forms of life lurk in those waters that you may not notice. The sea spider is a unique form of predator that lives along the bottom of those bodies of water.

These organisms are scavengers and predators. They often live right on their food sources. These food sources may be a bed of algae or perhaps a sea anemone. Its color usually is adapted to the food source that it consumes. The fact that its color blends with its food source tends to provide a degree of protection from predators.

They spend most of their lives living on the food source and travel very little. They move slowly, sometimes so slowly they appear dead. Most sea spiders move along the bottom using their long legs but some will move along the surface of the water by using their legs like the opening and closing of an umbrella. The sea spider lives along the bottom of the sea, in estuarys they create. Many species live in the tidal pools and shallow areas of coastal waters and estuaries. The sea spider is a robust creature and has the ability to survive in virtually every kind of environment from extremes of pressure to wide swings in the water temperature.

What Oceans Do Sea Spiders Live In?

The sea spider is found in virtually every body of ocean or seawater in the world. Their habitats range from the Arctic Ocean to the Antarctic Ocean and from the Pacific to the Atlantic. There have been species identified in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Sea. They inhabit the coastal waters of the South Pacific islands as well as, Australia and New Zealand.  

Since species of the sea spider have been found in the Arctic Ocean and in tropical waters of the Pacific, the answer to where does a sea spider live is, almost everywhere. It should be noted that the species that survive and live in the cold waters of the Antarctic Ocean are on the larger size of the range for these creatures. While they live in shallow coastal waters, they have also been found at depths of 7000 meters at the bottom of the ocean. The species found at these extreme depths no longer have eyes. The stalks remain but only as vestigial appendages.

Sea Spider Characteristics

The sea spider can range in size from 1 mm to over 90 cm. There are over 1,300 species of this organism. Most of these are of the smaller size.

Sea spiders are similar to land spiders but have virtually no abdomen. Their metabolic functions and organs are contained in their extremities and they also have no respiratory system. The oxygen they require is carried to the different parts of the sea spider by diffusion.

Eyestalks protrude from the body of the sea spider and aid in movement and feeding on prey. The sea spider's digestive tract extends into each of the legs of the spider. The muscles on the legs of the spider are single cells with each attached to connective tissue. The organism has either six or eight long segmented legs. Their main body also has a proboscis that extends out from the main body. Most of these species use the proboscis to feed. The proboscis is thrust into the body of a soft-bodied invertebrate and sucks out the nutrients.

The male carries out its method of reproduction after a brief courtship and external fertilization of the eggs. The fertile eggs immediately attach to the legs of the father until they hatch. The male will care for the embryos until they reach the juvenile stage and can care for themselves. At that point, they have developed two or three pairs of legs that can use to walk on and then they leave and pursue life on their own. The preferred food sources of each particular spider are those that it fed upon just before the juvenile stage.