Vampire Sea Spiders!

[Penopolypants]

I'm not planning on diving in Antarctica anytime soon (where the most interesting ones live), but I would love to come across one while diving.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/ancient/AncientRepublish_1675573.htm

 

[archman]

Personally, I think most divers would pee in their drysuits if they came across a giant sea spider. They look too much like those face-sucking things from the Alien movies. Fortunately, the larger species are primarily confined to cooler waters.

Our lab keeps some big preserved specimens in jars. They freak out a lot of students.

 

[ThatsSomeBadHatHarry]

They look too much like those face-sucking things from the Alien movies.

That was the first thought that popped into my mind.

 

[fire_diver]

Are they ABSOLUTELY SURE that "sucker" isn't really meant to be stuck down our throats and lay eggs?

FD

 

[tankajava]

I'm not planning on diving in Antarctica anytime soon (where the most interesting ones live), but I would love to come across one while diving.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/ancient/AncientRepublish_1675573.htm

These suckers are found in oceans world-wide. Most are only a few millimeters in legspan though. As for the rest of their physiology and morphology...they are just not right.

Pers Anthony teamed up with Clifford Pickover to write a Jaws-esque deep sea horror novel called Spider Legs featuring a pycnogonid the size of an elephant. It was of an ecological statement based on theater of the absurd writing, IMO, but it did point out some of the strange morphology and habits of these critters.

toj