Dr. Dirk Schories, Deutschland
Info
Dr. Dirk Schories was able to get the seaspider Austropallene cristata in front of his camera lens during a dive in the waters of Fildes Bay, King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, in freezing water on February 12, 2011.
Dirk gave us a water depth between 10 and 30 meters where he was able to photograph the animal, a quick look at this page of Dirk's homepage illustrates what an overcoming it must have taken to get into the uninviting water despite wearing a wetsuit:
http://www.guiamarina.com/gallery/picture.php?/476/category/58
This species was collected in 2010 at the deepest known depth on the southern slope of the Campbell Plateau - at a depth of 2,100 meters!
Otherwise, it is restricted to the subantarctic off South America and is known to live circumpolar in Antarctic waters at shallower depths (to 520 m).
This is the only known species with dorsal trunk humps, and its large chelae and pointed proboscis serve to distinguish it from other species in the genus.
Synonym: Pseudopallene cristata Bouvier, 1911
Dirk gave us a water depth between 10 and 30 meters where he was able to photograph the animal, a quick look at this page of Dirk's homepage illustrates what an overcoming it must have taken to get into the uninviting water despite wearing a wetsuit:
http://www.guiamarina.com/gallery/picture.php?/476/category/58
This species was collected in 2010 at the deepest known depth on the southern slope of the Campbell Plateau - at a depth of 2,100 meters!
Otherwise, it is restricted to the subantarctic off South America and is known to live circumpolar in Antarctic waters at shallower depths (to 520 m).
This is the only known species with dorsal trunk humps, and its large chelae and pointed proboscis serve to distinguish it from other species in the genus.
Synonym: Pseudopallene cristata Bouvier, 1911
