The Dolomedes tenebrosus, or the Dark Fishing Spider, is the largest fishing spider known to man. Though it is not as well known as its cousin, the dangerous Black Widow, it does play a major role in the environment. Like most arachnids, the female is bigger than the male. From leg tip to leg tip, the male is usually around one and a half inches long. The females are over twice that! As the name implies, the Dark Fishing Spider does have a diet of fish. Although it is big, it can only swallow small fish and tadpoles. But it is big enough to bite humans. Such occurrences are rare but not unheard of. Victims describe a burning sensation and redness at the spot bitten.

 

The D. tenebrosus is found mostly along the eastern half of America, particularly in Arkansas. Their homes are usually crevasse or burrows. They leave to hunt during the night. An easy way to identify the Dark Fishing Spider is by looking at its legs, which have black rings going down them. Another trait is that their abdomens have three dark ‘w’s. The eye pattern is two horizontal rows of four eyes each. Similar to the black widow, the mother will kill the male after fertilization. The eggs will be contained in a spherical egg sac measuring around one and a half centimeters long. It will contain almost 1400 eggs. Right before it hatches; the mother will attach the egg to vegetation and build a nursery web around it. There the newly hatched spiders will live with the mother guarding the home.

 

The Dark Fishing Spider is a fascinating animal that continues to provoke my mind. Normally if you ask someone to name as many animals as they can, most (if not all) of them will be in the order Mammalia. Or at least Chordata. But the actual truth is that most animals in the world made up by the anthropods. The Dark Fishing Spider is one of the millions of different species in the world.

 

Author: Mehtab B.

Publish: 02/2007

 

Sources: "Dark Fishing Spider." Etomology.

Online. May 9. 2003 3 February 2008.

"Dolomedes." Wikipedia. Online.

January 18, 2008 3 February 2008.

 

Photo Credit: Photo taken by J.K. Barnes from: http://entomology.uark.edu/museum/dolomede.html