In the cold, dark depths of the polar ocean, there are often hideous creatures that can wake you up from nightmares.
According to the daily mail of December 29, this kind of creature exists in the waters near the Arctic and Antarctica - a giant sea spider with eight long legs and a snout tube. Its legs can reach up to 25 cm, which is the longest in the world.
This sea spider is a primitive marine arthropod, which can be seen all over the world, but usually they are very small. However, in polar waters, they will become much larger than in other places. This phenomenon is called 'polar gigantism'. Although scientists have put forward many hypotheses, they can not explain exactly why.
A researcher from the National Science Foundation, the University of Montana and the University of Hawaii believes this may be due to the high concentration of dissolved oxygen in cold water.
With the extremely high oxygen concentration in the sea near the coast of Antarctica and the slow metabolism in the cold climate, spiders are likely to grow very big. Scientists say large organisms need more oxygen to keep the body running.
Scientists have broken ice, collected samples under the sea near Antarctica, and tested them at different temperatures and oxygen concentrations. They found that low oxygen concentration would have a negative impact on sea spiders, which also supported their previous hypothesis.
They think that if this is really the cause of megamegalopolis, it will not only affect sea spiders, but also more large marine organisms.