I’m feeling let down. On Monday, The Boston Globe carried a short blurb about the Antarctic Benthic Deep-Sea Biodiversity Project (ANDEEP) with the headline, “Huge Sea Spiders, Other Creatures Found.”
I’m all for other creatures–ANDEEP scientists have found over 700 new species–but what caught my eye was the spiders, which are apparently the size of “dinner plates.” The Globe article appeared a week after the discoveries were announced in Nature, and carried a link to pictures and videos on the journal’s website. But, to the dismay of arachnophiles everywhere, there is no footage of the spiders!
National Geographic also picked up the story last week, offering readers a slide show of the “bizarre” creatures. But there are just a few shots of some shrimp–and trilobite-looking things. Let this be known: you cannot advertise “huge sea spiders” in a headline and then back it up with pictures of shrimp. We have been promised monsters!
Here’s an old pic of a cousin of these aquatic crawlers, if you’re curious.
Curtis Brainard writes on science and environment reporting. Follow him on Twitter @cbrainard.