I am catching up on some photos and thought I’d post this image that I captured in mid-July of a cool-looking fishing spider that Walter Sanford spotted while we were hunting for dragonflies at a creek in Fairfax County. I am not sure of the specific species of the spider, but I am pretty confident that it is of the genus Dolomedes. Most of the times in the past when I have spotted similar spiders, they have actually been in the water, but this one seemed to be hunting from a crevice in the rocks at the edge of the water.
I love the texture of the rocks and especially the lichen that add a lot of visual interest to this image. If you would like to see Walter’s take on our encounter with this spider, check out his post ‘Fishing spider Friday.’ Walter noted that he sees “a mean monkey face on the front half of the spider and a baboon face on the back half.” Be sure to click on the image to see the spider more closely, if you dare and let me know what you think.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Oh yes it’s a very cool spider and I’m with you re the texture and lichen. Also you’ve got the lighting and contrast just right – even to the extent that it’s eyes are evenly lit – so imho I found your photo to be more pleasing to my eyes than Walter’s – even though his was similar. Nigel also likes yours, same reason of the spider standing out from the background.
Thanks, Liz, for your explanation. Walter and I use completely different setups when we shoot. I use a DLSR with a long macro lens and Walter shoots with a superzoom camera with a full-size flash that he uses most of the time. What that means is that our results often look quite different even when we shoot the same subject from the same spot. Much of the time I prefer my own shots, but I am a little biased. 🙂
That is one cool looking spider, Mike! Great shot!
Thanks, Pete.
Looks to be the same as what we call a ‘Fish Spider’. Great shot showing the entire ‘monster’. I hope it wasn’t as big as the one I recently found. I don’t think we need two of them on the same continent. They might mate.
Size is hard to tell from the photo, but this one was about normal for a fishing size. I think that the way they stretch out all of their legs makes them look even bigger than they are. I don’t mind the one that hang out at water’s edge–I am more bother by the ones with sticky webs that I run into face-first when walking down a trail.
Just found a few hundred big ones and took some shots LOL. Will post soon.
A formidable critter. Wouldn’t want to mess with it.
As spiders go, fishing spiders are pretty big. I have no desire to mess with spiders and snakes, though I will often try to get pretty close to them to take photos.
Namaste, Mr. Mike! This is a cool spider. It is super awesome when I made the photo the biggest and I can really see the eyes. I think it looks like the spider has a beard! I chose your photo as my favorite cause it is so bright and clear. The rock is a good place for him to wait cause he is hidden by the same colors, camouflage right? Thank you and Bye!
Thanks, Benjamin. This kind of spider is different from many because it does not make a web. Instead it watches and waits for a prey and then grabs it. The rock camouflages the spider so well that I might not have spotted it if my friend had not pointed it out to me.
I love spiders and this is a handsome example. I love the way the colours and textures of this image work together. The rocks both camouflage and accentuate the spider’s form.
Thanks, Laura. Sometimes I am happy when I can simply record the presence of what I saw, but my sense of satisfaction is much higher when I can do so in a creative, artistic way.
Nice Mike! Spiders are fun photo subjects!
They definitely are. I’d love to find some jumping spiders, among my favorites, which I have not seen in a number of years.
Hi Mike, I think you probably have a striped FS here, Dolomedes scriptus (https://spiderid.com/spider/pisauridae/dolomedes/scriptus/), but it does also bear some resemblance to the dark FS, D. tenebrosus. I’ve also seen the 6-spotted variety at the lake, but they’re easy to differentiate. Great find!
The Six-spotted, D. triton, is the only one that I can identify on sight. I checked a number of different sites and D. scriptus looks to be the best match, Gary. Thanks for the suggestion.
Haha, this arachnophobe took your challenge and found myself unconsciously shivering as the image got bigger! Nice shot. I liked the Monarch too.
Thanks, Nina. I appreciate the fact that a pretty good number of my viewers find subjects like snakes and spiders to be creepy. Thanks for taking the challenge. 🙂
Walter is right! Creepy spider eyes on both ends.