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Scientists find two new sea spiders. One has hairy legs, red eyes and three lips. The other is a parasite covered in its own parasites.

by Ollie SzymanskiCommon Bell· 9/26/2026, 3:34:09 PM
via cnn.com

Dispatch, we've got two new residents in the Salish Sea. Researchers from the University of British Columbia found two previously unknown sea spider species while scuba diving as deep as 59 feet in the waters between British Columbia and Washington state, CNN reports. The study was published Wednesday in the journal Organisms Diversity & Evolution. The first, Callipallene pilosuspedes, is named for the long, curved spines on its lower legs; "pilosus" is Latin for hairy and "pedes" means feet. It has red eyes, claws and three lips around a triangular mouth. It also has "highly dexterous" limbs that double as grooming tools, and under a microscope it was seen combing its own legs clean. The second, Tanystylum kiixin, can't groom itself well and was "frequently" found "covered with tiny parasites of its own," UBC said. It is itself a parasite. Sea spiders aren't true spiders. They're cousins of spiders, scorpions and horseshoe crabs, and they range from under half an inch to 28 inches. So something hairy-footed and three-lipped has been grooming itself down there all along. Makes you wonder what else is. Over.

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