Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > Nature & Environment > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

Nature & Environment

Fish-eating spiders are commonplace

By T.K. Randall
June 22, 2014 · Comment icon 27 comments

Not even fish are safe from spiders. Image Credit: CC BY-2.0 Ian Kirk
Spiders that are capable of catching and killing fish are far more common than previously believed.
Conventionally when you think of spiders you think of them catching flies and insects in a web, yet according to a new study as many as 8 out of 109 families of spiders around the world engage in the practice of catching and eating fish.

Some spiders are able to do so by skittering across the surface of ponds while others lay in wait at the water's edge and pounce on unsuspecting fish as they swim past. In most cases the spiders inject their victim with venom to immobilize it.
"Pond fish were repeatedly caught by spiders in suburban/urban gardens of Adelaide, Brisbane, Lismore and Sydney or native freshwater fish were predated by spiders on the fringes of slow-flowing streams in New South Wales and Queensland," a recent report on the phenomenon stated.

"Evidence of the extent of fish predation by spiders in laboratory and field experiments suggests it is more widespread than traditionally thought."

The largest known fish to have been caught and killed by a spider was 9cm long.

Source: The Guardian | Comments (27)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #18 Posted by hammerclaw 10 years ago
Sorry Sara.......8 centimeters in size.
Comment icon #19 Posted by smokeycat 10 years ago
They don't have spiders like that! Not around me anyway! Around where I live there are (Southern England).
Comment icon #20 Posted by gatekeeper32 10 years ago
I smell a new horror movie.
Comment icon #21 Posted by Rose-Red Howler 10 years ago
Spiders do like baths too. Seeing spiders sat in water is really pretty.
Comment icon #22 Posted by Mantis914 10 years ago
The spiders around here are quite content, there are a lot of june bugs and flies around to keep them busy for a long long time...
Comment icon #23 Posted by GlennThe14TH 10 years ago
They're amazing creatures, those spiders.
Comment icon #24 Posted by danielost 10 years ago
All creatures are amazing.
Comment icon #25 Posted by g00dfella 10 years ago
all living creatures adapts and evolves to best suit their situation to survive Insightful.. Topic is cool
Comment icon #26 Posted by Cards 10 years ago
A couple years ago I was tubing down a river (very leisurely pace); I got off the tube and went to the bank of the river. Running along the shore was a gigantic water spider -- by far the largest spider I've ever seen in the wild. It absolutely terrified me. It's leg span must have been 8". Now, bear in mind that this was in the midwest of the USA -- the largest spider I had seen prior to that was probably a fourth that size. I didn't realize that these things could swim, I thought they just lived near damp places. The possibility that it could've swam towards me is even more terrifying!
Comment icon #27 Posted by Rose-Red Howler 10 years ago
Water spiders are made for paddling. I think it was disturbed by the rushing of water. Water spiders breathe in water using air bubbles.


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Recent news and articles