Pentanymphon antarcticum

The body of this sea spider is smooth and very slender, and the adult features five pairs of long legs that are similar in size and proportions. Each leg ends in a well developed claw and features four rows of setae on the last four joints. The chelifores are well developed and each feature two joints: the basal segment (scape) and the slender chelae, which are shorter than the scape. The chelae each feature a uniform row of short teeth set closely together. The palps each feature five joints. The ovigers are present in each sex and each feature ten joints with a single row of toothed spines on the four most distal joints and a row of narrow teeth on a claw at the distal end. Specimens in this genus exhibit significant variation in size. The trunk can range from 2.8 mm to 6.6 mm in length. The legs are about five times as long as the trunk and can reach 36 mm in length. Sea spiders in the genus Pentanymphon share many traits with their octopodous relatives in the genus Nymphon. For example, both genera feature well developed chelifores, five-jointed palps, and ten-jointed ovigers with a single row of toothed spines on the four terminal joints. The sea spiders in the genus Pentanymphon are especially similar to another species found in the same waters, Nymphon hiemale, in terms of their general appearance and the form of their chelae. …

The species P. antarcticum is widely distributed around Antarctica. This sea spider has a circumpolar distribution in the Antarctic zone and is found at depths ranging from 3 to 3227 meters below the surface. This species is endemic to the Southern Ocean.

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