Dolomedes triton
Copyright, John White
The Six-spotted Fishing
Spider is one of our most common aquatic spiders. It is
fairy large, up to 2 1/2 inches long, including its legs.
Females are larger than males. This spider is easy to
identify, since it has a greenish-brown body with two white
stripes on the front section (cephalothorax) of its body,
and 12 white spots on its rear section (abdomen). Underneath
the abdomen, it has 6 black spots. Six-spotted Fishing
Spiders like places with shallow, quiet water, including
marshes, ponds, and slow-moving streams. They are ususally
found on shore, on plants, or on the surface of the
water. Fishing spiders are
interesting, because they are one of the few animals that
can "walk" on water. They actually have several ways of
moving on, or underneath, the surface, including:
walking/running, rowing, gliding, and diving. Copyright, Giff
Beaton Suter, R. B., and Horatio
Wildman Besides walking on the
surface of the water, Six-spotted Fishing Spiders can walk
underwater as they climb down a plant leaf or stem below the
surface. To row, the spider uses
some of its legs like oars in a rowboat to push itself
across the surface. To glide, the spider
remains still and lets itself get pushed across the surface
by wind. To dive, the fishing
spider traps a bubble of air in its legs so it can breathe
underwater. Six-spotted Fishing Spiders can stay underwater
for over half an hour. Fishing spiders can jump
straight up from the water to escape a predator, or dive
below. Of course, they can travel very quickly on land as
well. Six-spotted Fishing Spiders will always be found where
there are lots of plants, both in the water and on the
shore, so they can hide from predators and ambush
prey. Suter, R. B., and Horatio
Wildman Suter, R. B., and Horatio
Wildman Copyright, Troy
Bartlett Six-spotted Fishing
Spiders, like most spiders, eat lots of insects. Because of
their great abilities, they have a lot of choices. They can
hunt on land, on the water's surface, or below. Their meals
are often terrestrial (land) insects which fall in the water
and can't escape, but they eat aquatic insects
too. Fishing spiders also
attack larger prey, such as small fish, frogs, tadpoles, or
newts. They do not build webs. Female spiders will even
it males of their own species. Males have to be careful when
approaching a female to mate. If she has already mated, she
will not hesitate to eat him. Copyright, Herschel
Raney
Mark Moran
