A strange yellow spider-like creature with four almost black eyes and large bulbous claws has been pulled from the depths of the ocean near Antarctica. A never-before-seen animal, the sea spider is a distant relative of horseshoe crabs and arthropods that live on the ocean floor, eat with a straw-like proboscis instead of a mouth, and breathe with their feet. Scientists have discovered more than 1,000 species of sea spiders around the world.

The new species, Austropallene halanychi, was found on the ocean floor in the Ross Sea, about 570 meters below the surface. Among all the other surprising things about sea spiders, the new species has large claws that resemble “boxing gloves,” and they probably used them to catch soft foods like anemone and worms, said biologist Andrew Mahon, one of the study’s authors. Central Michigan University. The research was published in the journal Zoo Keys.

The body of the Austropallene halanychi is about 1 centimeter long, but its legs extend almost 3 cm. This gives the species the slender appearance typical of many sea spiders – although some species can grow much larger and reach almost 60 cm.

What’s more, this new species is likely a drop in the ocean when it comes to undiscovered wildlife living at the bottom of the Southern Ocean, an ecosystem that’s home to everything from shiny starfish and otherworldly sea worms to sponges and cold-water corals.

“The benthic environment in Antarctica is an area of ​​science that we must continue to explore,” Mahon said. “There is so much, we find something new every time we go.”

Researchers who want to learn more about this environment are casting nets deep into the water to retrieve anything that might be at the bottom. After pulling the nets, they sort through everything they catch and record each sample before sending it to laboratories for further analysis.

However, because many potential new species need to be identified, it may take some time to analyze all the samples. A. halanychi was first bred in 2013 by the American research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer. Recently Mahon and his colleague Jessica Zehnpfennig took it out of storage and analyzed its body shape and genetics, determining that it was a new species to science.

But researchers may not have enough time to explore the Antarctic seafloor. As the climate continues to change, warmer waters could threaten the future of some species living in this isolated and unique ecosystem, Mahon said. One of the reasons researchers continue to study the Antarctic floor, he says, is to help identify and preserve this biodiversity before it’s too late. Source