Sea Spiders of the Salish Sea (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida)

The Pycnogonida, commonly known as sea spiders, is a class of marine arthropods (animals with jointed appendages and an exoskeleton) that originated around 500 million years ago during the early diversification of the Chelicerata, a distinct group of arthropods with familiar members including arachnids like spiders and scorpions, and horseshoe crabs. While all chelicerates first evolved in a marine context and are now mostly terrestrial, pycnogonids are the exception, having never left the ocean throughout their evolutionary history. In turn, they possess a variety of unique traits and behaviors that may give some insight into the early evolution of the chelicerates. Sea spiders are globally distributed and can be found intertidally to a depth of 6000 meters. Relatively little is known about the pycnogonid fauna of the Salish Sea ecoregion. Cormac’s research aims to better understand the diversity and life history of the species in this region through SCUBA surveys, high resolution microscopy, and molecular techniques.

Cormac Toler-Scott is in the Leander Lab at the University of British Columbia studying sea spiders. He has just successfully defended his thesis on this subject, earning his MSc. He is also a SCUBA diver.