Science Friday - How These Spiders At The Bottom Of The Sea Run On Methane

Episode Date: July 13, 2025

Researchers found a new sea spider with a giant nose, leg cannons, and—most remarkably—a novel way of surviving in the lightless, freezing environment miles below the sea surface. These oceanic arthropods are powered by methane that seeps out of the ocean floor.Biologist Shana Goffredi joins Host Flora Lichtman to tell us more about the discovery and explain how we’re connected to these little beasts.Guest: Dr. Shana Goffredi is a biology professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA.Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.  Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Hey, I'm Flora Lickman, and you're listening to Science Friday. Today on the podcast, a new to us deep sea alien. And within that proboscis, there are these like chitinous lips almost. And within that mouth is three cute little teeth. Researchers found a new sea spider with a giant nose, leg cannons, and most remarkably a novel way of surviving in the lightless, freezing environment, miles below the sea surface. These oceanic arthropods are powered by methane that seeps out of the ocean floor. Here to tell us more and how we're connected to these little beasts is Dr. Shauna Goughredi,

Professor of Biology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. Shana, welcome to Science Friday. Thanks, Flora. I was just grinning from ear to ear with that description. That was an amazing description of the research. I'm so glad. I'm so glad we didn't botch it. Thank you. I have a very good. I have a very much. I have heard of methane-powered microbes, but now sea spiders, please introduce me to them. Yes. So we have for quite some time actually wanted to understand whether certain animals can take advantage of methane on the seafloor. And just as you said, we only know that microbes can do it. And we are aware of some animals that can partner with some of those methane-eating microbes.

but we've been interested in discovering others because we know that methane is coming from the seafloor and it is a very high energy molecule. And so we were on the hunt for unusual animals that might have been overlooked in the past that might just have a different strategy than we had anticipated. And how do they work with microbes to take advantage of methane? Yes. So what we realized is that they actually farm methane oxidizing bacteria, so those that eat methane and convert it into CO2. And those bacteria were making biomass out of this carbon. And then the sea spider actually turns around and like farms and consumes the bacteria off of their body surface.

Did you say farm? Oh, yeah. We know of many agricultural arthropods. Farming crustaceans, farming arthropods is not unusual. But what is unusual is we know of no other spiders that do this. What's in it for the bacteria? Yeah, that's a great question. So clearly the bacteria are being encouraged to live on the surface of the sea spider by the spider, no doubt. And so the spider is clearly enriching on its surface a special community. And so it is benefiting the bacteria to ride aboard. That's why you say farming, because the spider is creating an environment that's good for these bacteria.

Oh, you're absolutely right. Wow. Okay. And so how do they get the bacteria off of their bodies and into their mouths? Right, right. So that's a great question. It is very hard to do behavioral studies in 2,000 meters deep in the sea. And they're also translucent and they're tiny, like a centimeter in leg span. And so to be honest, we've never actually seen them do this grooming behavior. So we just assume they're using that large nose you spoke about is actually called a proboscis. And within that proboscis, there are these like chitinous lips almost. And within that mouth is three. cute little teeth. And what we see from these in the biofilm of bacteria that's on the outside of this spider, we see these little lawnmower marks where the bacteria have been uprooted and they're missing from this matrix of goo that they make to stick to the spider. And the width of that lawnmower mark is exactly the width of the mouth. And so of course it's, you know, it's circumstantial at this point, but we're pretty sure that that's how they're getting their farm. Oh my gosh. So They have a nose, and within the nose, they have a mouth, and within the mouth, they have tiny lips.

And under those lips, they have three itsy-bitsy teeth. Exactly. Oh, my God. They should be a SpongeBob character. I love it so much. For sure. For sure. So we haven't described these species yet.

We have proposed a few species names. And I think a SpongeBob character would be the methane menace. Oh, I like that. What are the other names that you're proposing? Well, we think, you know, methanophila. So it has to be in Latin, of course. So that is... nor. Yeah. Oh, but methane menace in Latin is metanomino-minax, which actually I think is kind of, it's a

pretty good one. Yeah. It has a ring. Yeah, it does. You know, I think a lot of people might hear this and be like, oh, a deep sea spider that eats a bacterial crust with its nose. Thank you, but no thank you for this new information. Oh, for sure. Shana, why do you care about them? Like, what is the bigger picture? That's a great question. So I think that understanding biodiversity on the planet is supremely important. And, you know, we think that a tiny little spider on the seafloor might be useless, but every little cog in the ecosystem is important. And they could be prey items for other organisms. So, for example, at these methane seeps, we see all kinds of fish and crabs that we use as fisheries.

and so rockfish, spider crabs. And so I think they are probably pretty important. Not to mention, we don't really want that methane in the atmosphere, right? Oh, you're absolutely right. So methane has a much higher warming potential. And it comes out of the seafloor. So you're exactly correct that these animals and the bacteria, of course, that they farm are acting like a biological filter that prevents all of that methane from actually entering

the overlying water column and then, of course, entering the atmosphere, which would be bad. You know, for my whole career, I've heard this phrase that we know less about the bottom of the ocean than we do about the surface of the moon. Yes. Is that still true? Oh, for sure. So there was a recent paper in science that reevaluated how much of the seafloor we've actually explored, and it's less than a percent. And every time we're in a submersible or we have a robotic submersible looking at the seafloor, it's not that we just discover new species. we actually discover whole new ways of life.

When people see a new headline that's like three new deep sea spider species discovered, do you think that people understand what it takes to do that work? I suspect they don't. So it really is a village, so it's expensive, and it's time-consuming. And it is harrowing, actually. Our recent trip to Alaska, we took the Alvin to some of its deepest depths that scientists have taken it to, 5,000 meters. And it was extremely cold.

It was rough seas. So it is not for the faint of heart when you're out there. So every little discovery is so meaningful. Shana, that is the perfect segue because on tomorrow's podcast, we are taking listeners inside that very sub on one of your deep sea expeditions. One of the expeditions that uncovered one of these methane-powered spiders, right? Mm-hmm. Exactly.

Yes, off of the allusions. It's an episode of The Leap that I made with the Hypothesis Fund. So buckle up because we are about to go for a hair-raising ride in the Alvin submersible. That is tomorrow on the podcast. Thanks, Shana. You're welcome. Thanks for having me, Flora. Thanks for listening.

Don't forget to rate and review us if you like the show. And you can always leave us a comment on this segment on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you. Today's episode was produced by D. Peter Schmidt. I'm Flora Lichtenen. Thanks for listening.