Pantopoda

This pair of individuals, which includes the individual shown at the top of the page, were both on the same anenome. Though I did not check thoroughly, I did not see ovigerous legs on either individual suggesting they are both female.

In this closeup view one can see the tiny turretlike head with 4 eyes (near the left end of the body, between the left (front) pair of legs). The proboscis is much larger than the head and extends to the left of the body.

Pycnogonum stearnsi from Little Corona del Mar, CA. Total leg span about 1 cm. Animal was in a tidepool next to the base of an Anthopleura sola anemone. The head with its large proboscis is facing left (there is a bubble at the tip of the proboscis) (Photo by: Dave Cowles, November 2006)

Here is an even closer view of the turret-like head, which appears as a small tubercle covered with 4 eyes, and also of the proboscis

In this ventral view, the small ovigerous legs can be seen on the underside of the first body segment (left side, just to the right of the proboscis). Here the animal is extending its other, walking legs upward and away from the camera. The proboscis is to the left. Females of some families lack ovigerous legs and in other families they are reduced in females.

Pycnogonids are frequently found clinging to hydroids, as here on the hydroid Aglaophenia sp.

Tanystylum occidentalis from under an intertidal rock near the S end of Lopez Island. Total leg span about 8 mm. (Photo by: Dave Cowles, July 2006)

This is a view of the underside of the whole animal

Phoxichilidium femoratum found by Joanna Cowles on an Epiactis ritteri anemone in a sea cave at Cape Flattery. Leg span 1.5 cm. Since no ovigerous legs are present, this must be a female. (Photo by: Dave Cowles, July 2009)

This closeup of the head shows the eye turret, the proboscis (top left), the chelicerae (chelifores) next to the proboscis which are two-segmented and end with a knob rather than a chela, the basal segments of the palps, and the coxae of the first several legs. Note that there is no finger-like projection on the dorsodistal part of the coxa of the first leg.

In this closeup of the posterior body, the stub-like abdomen projecting from the thorax can be seen. Several algal cells are adhered to the leg in the lower right.

Achelia latifrons found on an Epiactis prolifera anemone at Cape Flattery. The distance from the tip of the proboscis (top left) to the tip of the abdomen (bottom right) is 3 mm. Total leg span is 11 mm. (Photo by: Dave Cowles, July 2014)