Full transcript
0:00You hatch from an egg attached to your
0:01father's legs, somewhere in the
0:02Antarctic Ocean. You're a tiny larva
0:04with only three pairs of stubby limbs,
0:06not the eight long legs you'll grow
0:08later. Hundreds of other larvae break
0:09free at the same time, and all of you
0:11swarm off his body at once. The current
0:13pulls you away from him immediately, and
0:15you start drifting through the water
0:16with your limbs paddling in short jerky
0:18bursts. Then something large moves
0:20through the cloud of larvae around you.
0:22It's a comb jelly with long sticky
0:23tentacles trailing behind its body, and
0:25dozens of your siblings get caught in
0:27the strands as it passes. You paddle
0:29harder with your three pairs of limbs
0:30and manage to slip past its body just
0:32before the tentacles sweep through your
0:34path. You need to find food and
0:36somewhere to stay, so you keep drifting
0:38until you spot a hydroid colony attached
0:39to a nearby rock. It looks like a
0:41cluster of tiny branching stems with
0:43small polyps at the ends. You paddle
0:45toward the closest polyp and latch onto
0:47it with your mouth, gripping tight with
0:49your front limbs. But then another larva
0:51appears and tries to claim the same
0:52polyp, bumping into your side and
0:54pushing you back. You both struggle for
0:56position, limbs tangling together as you
0:58fight to stay attached. You manage to
1:00pierce the polyp's soft flesh with your
1:02mouth and start feeding, draining the
1:04fluids from inside its body. Your
1:06sibling loses its grip and drifts away
1:07to find another host. You stay clamped
1:09to the polyp and keep feeding, your body
1:11starting to swell as you take in
1:13nutrients. You'll stay attached here for
1:14weeks while your body grows and changes.
1:17But eventually, you'll need to leave and
1:18find your own way across the seafloor.
1:20You're 2 weeks old now, and your body
1:22has become too tight for your
1:23exoskeleton. The pressure builds until
1:25your shell finally splits open along
1:27your back, so you start pulling yourself
1:29free with your limbs pushing against the
1:30old casing. You crawl out slowly with
1:33each leg coming loose one at a time, and
1:35when you're finally free, you have four
1:36pairs of legs instead of three. The new
1:38exoskeleton is soft at first, but starts
1:40hardening as you move. You need to leave
1:42the hydroid now and find your own food,
1:44so you drop off the stem and start
1:46walking across the rocky surface for the
1:47first time. Your legs are long and
1:49spindly compared to your tiny body,
1:51making each step awkward as they tangle
1:53with each other while you try to
1:54coordinate the movement. After a few
1:56clumsy steps, you spot a smaller hydroid
1:58polyp growing on a nearby rock, so you
2:00move toward it and grab the stem with
2:02your front legs. You bite into the
2:04polyp's body with your proboscis and
2:05start draining the fluids inside,
2:07feeding slowly as your digestive juices
2:09break down the tissue. But then a small
2:11amphipod scuttles across the rock toward
2:13you, and it's bigger than your body. It
2:15moves closer and tries to push you off
2:16the polyp with its legs shoving against
2:18your side, so you grip tighter and swing
2:20your proboscis toward it like a weapon.
2:22The sharp tip stabs at the amphipod's
2:24shell, making it back away and leave you
2:25alone. You finish draining the polyp
2:27until there's nothing left inside, then
2:29you crawl under a rock ledge and press
2:31your body against the surface. Your legs
2:33are getting longer with each molt, but
2:35your body stays small and vulnerable.
2:37Soon you'll be able to reach places
2:38other creatures can't, and that's when
2:40hunting will get easier. You're 1 month
2:42old now, and you've molted again, so you
2:44have all eight legs spread wide across
2:46the rocks. You're walking across the
2:47seafloor with your legs spanning much
2:49wider than your tiny body, searching for
2:51something to eat. That's when you spot a
2:53small sea anemone attached to a rock
2:55ahead, its tentacles waving slowly in
2:57the current. You need food, so you move
2:59toward it carefully with your front legs
3:01reaching out first. You grab the
3:03anemone's base with your legs and pierce
3:05its body with your proboscis, then start
3:06pumping digestive fluids inside to break
3:08down the tissue. The anemone's tentacles
3:10thrash around, and one wraps around your
3:12leg, making its stinging cells fire
3:14against your exoskeleton. But the stings
3:16don't go through your hard shell, so you
3:18hold your position and keep feeding
3:20while the anemone struggles beneath you.
3:22The feeding takes nearly an hour because
3:23you have to liquefy everything inside
3:25before you can drink it. When you're
3:26finally done draining the anemone
3:28completely, you pull your proboscis out
3:30and start backing away. But then another
3:32sea spider appears from behind a nearby
3:34rock, and it's slightly larger than you
3:36with longer legs. It moves toward the
3:37empty anemone and checks it with its
3:39front legs, trying to see if there's
3:41anything left to eat. You spread your
3:43legs wider and raise your front pair up
3:44to make yourself look bigger, so the
3:46other spider stops and watches you for a
3:48moment. Then it turns and walks away
3:50across the rocks without trying to
3:51fight, leaving you alone at the feeding
3:53spot. You stay there for a while longer
3:55before moving on, walking slowly with
3:57your eight legs carrying you across the
3:58stones. Your legs keep growing longer
4:00with each molt, and soon you'll be big
4:02enough to fight for the best feeding
4:03spots instead of backing away. You're 3
4:05months old now, and you're walking
4:07across the seafloor when you spot a
4:08large sponge colony covering several
4:10rocks ahead. You need to find a good
4:12feeding spot that will last for days, so
4:14you climb onto the sponge's surface with
4:16your legs gripping the porous texture.
4:18You pierce the sponge tissue with your
4:19proboscis and start pumping digestive
4:21fluids inside, then begin draining the
4:23liquefied tissue slowly. This meal is
4:25rich enough to keep you fed for days if
4:27you can hold the territory, so you stay
4:29on the same spot and keep feeding. On
4:31the second day, another sea spider
4:32appears and climbs onto the same sponge
4:34on the opposite side, then starts
4:36feeding just like you. You both drain
4:37different sections of the sponge without
4:39coming near each other at first, but
4:41over time you both follow the richest
4:42parts of the tissue and start moving
4:44closer together. Eventually, you meet in
4:46the middle where the sponge is thickest,
4:48and you both stop feeding and raise your
4:49front legs up at the same time. The
4:51other spider pushes against you with its
4:53legs trying to shove you backward, but
4:55your legs are longer, so you push harder
4:56and knock it off balance. It tumbles
4:58down the side of the sponge and moves
5:00away to a different section, leaving you
5:02alone at the best feeding spot. You
5:03continue draining the sponge tissue for
5:05another day until the area around you
5:07starts to die and turn gray. The tissue
5:09stops producing fluids, so you pull your
5:11proboscis out and start walking away
5:13across the rocks. You need to find fresh
5:15hunting grounds now because this sponge
5:16is finished. Your legs keep growing
5:18longer with each molt, and you're
5:19learning that when two sea spiders want
5:21the same food, the one with longer legs
5:23usually wins. You're 6 months old now,
5:26and your body has become too tight
5:27again, so you need to molt. You find a
5:29sheltered spot between two rocks and
5:31stop moving. Then your exoskeleton
5:32splits along your back and you start
5:34pulling yourself free. Your legs come
5:36out one at a time with each one sliding
5:38slowly through the old shell, and when
5:39you finally crawl free, your legs are
5:41even longer than before, spanning nearly
5:43twice your body length. But your new
5:45exoskeleton is soft and vulnerable, so
5:47you need to stay hidden until it
5:48hardens. That's when a fish swims
5:50overhead scanning the seafloor below,
5:52and it's a small Antarctic cod looking
5:54for something to eat. You freeze
5:55completely with your legs splayed flat
5:57against the rock, staying as still as
5:59possible while your soft body is
6:01exposed. The fish circles once with its
6:03shadow passing over you, then it moves
6:05closer and starts inspecting something
6:06nearby. You remain still with your legs
6:08pressed tight against the rock, waiting
6:10for the fish to leave. Then the fish
6:12snaps at a swimming amphipod and
6:13swallows it, so it turns away from you
6:15and keeps swimming across the seafloor.
6:17Over the next few hours, your
6:18exoskeleton slowly hardens and becomes
6:21stronger, so you start testing your new
6:23legs by lifting them one at a time. Your
6:25legs are now longer and stronger than
6:26they were before the molt, making it
6:28easier to reach across gaps between
6:30rocks and hold onto larger prey. You
6:32start walking across the seafloor with
6:34your longer legs carrying you faster
6:35than before, searching for your next
6:37meal. You're getting bigger with each
6:39molt, but so is everything else that
6:41notices you moving across the rocks. The
6:43seafloor is crowded with creatures that
6:44hunt for food just like you do, and some
6:46of them are much larger than you are.
6:48You're 1 year old now, and you've been
6:50walking across the seafloor when you
6:51come across a female sea spider feeding
6:53on a coral polyp. She's larger than you
6:55with a swollen body full of developing
6:57eggs, so you know she's ready to mate.
6:59You need to pass on your genes before
7:00you die, so you move toward her
7:01carefully with your legs taking slow
7:03steps across the rock. She stays in
7:05place and keeps feeding without running
7:07away or attacking you, so you climb onto
7:09her back and grip her body with your
7:10legs. She carries you for several
7:12minutes while she continues draining the
7:13coral polyp, moving slowly across the
7:15surface. Then you position yourself over
7:17her underside and transfer sperm packets
7:19to her body, holding them in place until
7:21they stick. The process takes only a few
7:23moments and happens without any signals
7:25or sounds, then you dismount and walk
7:27away across the rocks. She walks away in
7:29the opposite direction without looking
7:30back at you or making any movements
7:32toward you. A few weeks later, you pass
7:34by the same area and see her again, but
7:36now her legs are covered in hundreds of
7:38egg clusters glued tightly to her limbs.
7:40She moves slowly now because the weight
7:41of all the eggs makes it harder to walk,
7:43so she has to drag her legs across the
7:45rocks. You pass by her several more
7:47times over the following days, and each
7:48time she's in a different spot still
7:50carrying the eggs on her legs. She feeds
7:52less often now because moving is
7:53difficult, but she stays near the same
7:55area waiting for the eggs to hatch. You
7:57continue hunting alone across the
7:59seafloor, walking past her without
8:00stopping. You've passed on what you
8:02needed to, and now the only thing that
8:03matters is staying alive as long as
8:05possible. You're 18 months old now, and
8:07you're walking across the seafloor when
8:09a strong current suddenly picks up and
8:10starts pushing against your body. You
8:12try to grip the rocks with your legs,
8:14but the water is too strong, making your
8:16long legs catch the current like sails.
8:18The force rips your legs free from the
8:19rocks and starts dragging you across the
8:21seafloor, tumbling you over stones and
8:23past sponges. You get dragged through a
8:25forest of hydroids with your legs
8:27tangling in the stems, then you slam
8:28hard into a large boulder. Your legs
8:30scramble desperately for something to
8:32hold onto, so you manage to wedge
8:33yourself into a crack in the rock. The
8:35current keeps pushing against you for
8:37hours while you stay jammed in the
8:38crack, but eventually it calms down and
8:40the water becomes still again. You need
8:42to find food, so you crawl out of the
8:44crack and start walking across the rocks
8:45into unfamiliar territory. The rocks
8:47here look different and are covered in
8:49organisms you haven't seen before,
8:51making everything around you strange and
8:53unknown. You're hungry and confused
8:55about where you are, so you keep walking
8:56until you spot a small nudibranch moving
8:58slowly across a rock. You've never eaten
9:00one before, but you need food, so you
9:02move toward it and grab its body with
9:04your front legs. You pierce its soft
9:05flesh with your proboscis and start
9:07draining the fluids inside, but then the
9:09nudibranch releases something from its
9:11body that makes the water around you
9:12turn cloudy. You keep feeding anyway
9:14with your proboscis still stuck in its
9:16body, draining everything until the
9:17nudibranch stops moving. The area around
9:20you is much emptier than where you lived
9:21before, with fewer sea spiders competing
9:23for food. But empty territories can mean
9:25there's something dangerous nearby that
9:27keeps other creatures away. You're 2
9:29years old now, and you're walking slowly
9:31across a barren patch of seafloor with
9:33your legs spanning nearly 10 times your
9:35body length. Your movement is smooth and
9:37efficient because you've been walking
9:38this way for years, so you move forward
9:40with each leg placing itself carefully
9:42on the rocks. You spot a cluster of sea
9:44anemones growing ahead, so you need food
9:46and start moving toward the largest one
9:48with your front legs reaching out first.
9:50Just as you get close enough to grab the
9:51anemone, something suddenly comes up
9:53from the sand below you. It's a starfish
9:55that was buried and waiting beneath the
9:56surface, and one of its thick arms wraps
9:59around your leg and starts pulling. You
10:00try to back away by pushing against the
10:02rocks with your other legs, but then two
10:04more arms grab your other legs and hold
10:05you in place. The starfish's mouth
10:07starts pushing outward from the center
10:09of its body, coming up toward you while
10:11its arms keep pulling you downward. You
10:12stab at its thick armored surface with
10:14your proboscis trying to pierce through,
10:16but the hard plates protect it and your
10:18strikes don't do anything. Your legs
10:20splay out at impossible angles as the
10:22starfish drags you closer, making your
10:24joints bend back as you try to resist.
10:26But your long legs can't generate enough
10:27force to pull free, so the starfish
10:29keeps dragging you down toward its
10:31opening mouth, slowly and steadily. You
10:33get drawn into the opening with your
10:34legs folding and breaking as your body
10:36gets compressed into the starfish's
10:38stomach. Your proboscis keeps stabbing
10:40uselessly while the starfish pulls you
10:41all the way inside, and then everything
10:43stops moving. Above you on the seafloor,
10:45the current keeps moving across the
10:47empty rocks where you were standing just
10:49moments before. Life as a sea spider
10:50might be rough, but there's another
10:52animal out there that has it way worse.
10:54Trust me, it's wild. Check out the video
10:56and see for yourself.