Red-eyed, parasitic, hairy-legged sea spiders of the Salish Sea go under the microscope in Vancouver

But these creepy-sounding creatures inhabit planet earth — in fact, researchers recently discovered two new species of them in southern B.C.'s Salish Sea.

"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’s degree in zoology.

"They are related to terrestrial spiders, but they evolved long before terrestrial spiders… and never left the oceans."

He said only 20 species of sea spider had been documented in the Salish Sea and Vancouver Island region.

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.