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Abstract
Pycnogonida is a poorly known class of marine arthropods represented by nearly 1350 species described worldwide. We examined data about these organisms available on seven websites for photographs and information sharing among recreational naturalists. We found 384 observations, mainly with data about locality and date. Photos about 65 of them resulted correctly identified to the species level with certainty. The others refer to species whose identification requires a more in-depth analysis under a microscope. Unfortunately, this problem is common to a high percentage of pycnogonids. Therefore it seems unlikely that citizen scientists could contribute significantly to their knowledge. Nevertheless, for some species this would be possible and data on the presence of the taxon could be useful for more general studies at community level.
Highlights
Pycnogonida is a poorly known class of marine arthropods represented by nearly 1350 species described worldwide (Bamber et al, 2021)
Marine citizen science projects occurred on geographical scales ranging from local to global, with the majority acting at national level; most of them focused on coastal environments and were aimed at outlining species distribution (Earp & Liconti, 2019)
There is a bias among marine fauna taxa in terms of detectability and ease of identification, with an imbalance towards vertebrates, and some invertebrate groups are the subject of specific campaigns (Earp & Liconti, 2019; Krželj et al, 2020; Sandahl & Tøttrup, 2020; Garcia-Soto et al, 2021): for instance, “Crab Watch” is a citizen science project monitoring Europe’s crab species (Website 1)
Summary
Pycnogonida is a poorly known class of marine arthropods represented by nearly 1350 species described worldwide (Bamber et al, 2021) Due to their morphology, pycnogonids are commonly named “sea spiders”. They range from shallow waters to very deep seas and their size goes from few mm of leg-span of interstitial or littoral species to large, deep-sea Colossendeis, with leg spans up to 75 cm (Bamber et al, 2021). There is a bias among marine fauna taxa in terms of detectability and ease of identification (see Chengeux et al, 2020), with an imbalance towards vertebrates, and some invertebrate groups are the subject of specific campaigns (Earp & Liconti, 2019; Krželj et al, 2020; Sandahl & Tøttrup, 2020; Garcia-Soto et al, 2021): for instance, “Crab Watch” is a citizen science project monitoring Europe’s crab species (Website 1). Divers represent a heterogeneous group of people in terms of interests and culture (see Hermoso et al, 2020, 2021) but due to their high number and global distribution they potentially can give a significant contribution to research, especially on shallow and coastal water environments
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