One of my fellow photographers, Walter Sanford, pointed at the water and exclaimed, “Spider!” A spider in the water? Yes, fishing spiders don’t make a web and instead hunt by sensing the vibrations on the surface of the water.
There are numerous species of fishing spiders, but I think this may be a Six-spotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes triton). Yes, I realize there are more than six white spots on its back—apparently the name refers to six dark spots on the underside of the spider, a part of the spider that I have never seen.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
The close-up shot makes it look like a sea monster.
It does look like some kind of scary giant octopus. I am not sure how big it was exactly since I was hanging over the edge of a boardwalk when I took the shot.
That looks like a big one. I saw one last year and was surprised by how big they could get.
Gosh, Mike, that is HORRIFYING! A great shot though. 🙂 ~amy
Horrifying? I like spiders, but realize that many people find them to be really creepy. The only thing I don’t like is the sensation I get sometimes when I am walking through the woods and get spiderwebs on my bare skin.
sorry, Mike, YES, scary one b/c it is floating on water. I’ve spiderwebs all around my house, they are decorating for Halloween & I leave them to it. However, i do fear the spider that big. 🙂 ~amy
When they stand and raise their bodies they look like the monsters from lost in space. They ooh better like this – great shot.
Thanks, Victor. I was hanging off the edge of a boardwalk when I too this shot, so I wasn’t sure it would be anywhere close to sharp. A tripod would have been nice to get a sharper image, but would not have been at all feasible to get this angle of view.
Now thats a beautiful spider, excellent shot..:-)
Again, no tripod necessary. We have a close relative, the dark fishing spider, up at our lake cabin. I usually can find at least one or two each season, and I’m delighted when I do. This is a great portrait.
What a strange creature. I wonder if we have them in the UK?
We have Fishing Spiders in our yard on a river. Some of them are huge and carry big egg sacs. I think they are very interesting and majestic in their own way! 🙂