Meet the spider crab with the creepy, cool gold eyes. When I met the spider crab I didn’t even notice the gold eyes because I was so enthralled by its small size. Then the next day when I was going through my photos I spotted the fabulous gold eyes highlighted by the glint from the wedding band.

The name “spider crab” is fitting since this crab definitely looks like a spider with its eight spindly legs attached to an egg-shaped body. Plus, the spider crab is a crustacean and a member of Crustacea, a subphylum of the phylum Anthropoda, which includes insects, spiders, crabs, lobsters, and millions of other segmented creatures found on earth. So the spider and the spider crab have more in common than just the name.

This little critter emphasizes the great diversity of ocean life. While this spider crab lives off the coast of Southern California, it’s very likely that there is a similar tiny critter living in the Gulf of Mexico, which makes me wonder how many thousands of little creatures have lost their lives in the oil spill disaster. Oil must impact ocean animals of all walks of life, not just the high profile whales, dolphins and birds making the news. Every ocean animal has a role to play in its ecosystem and each role is just as important as the next. Let’s hope that they are all able to recover.