I was thrilled to spot this cool-looking Six-spotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes triton) yesterday at Green Spring Gardens, a county-run historic garden in Alexandria, Virginia, not far from where I live. These spiders usually keep several of their legs on the surface of the water and detect the vibrations of potential prey and them scamper across the water to capture their targets.
Initially the spider had its legs anchored on the edge of a colorful lily pad a short distance from the edge of a small pond, as shown in the first photo. When I got a little too close, the spider moved a short distance away, as shown in the second photo, but eventually it returned to its original spot.
Fishing spiders like this one are quite large—a female can grow to be about 2.4 inches (60 mm) in length, including her legs, while the male is somewhat smaller. According to Wikipedia, Six-spotted Fishing Spiders hunt during the day and can wait can wait patiently for hours until stimulated by prey. Potential prey include both aquatic insects and terrestrial insects that have fallen into the water, tadpoles, frogs, and small fish. Amazingly, these spiders are capable of capturing fish up to five times their body size, using venom to immobilize and kill the prey.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
amazing!
Wow! interesting and well spotted. I would be very hesitant to swim there!
When I think of animals that might come close to five times my size, I wouldn’t be trying to capture them. Great photos, Mike
How cool!
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Many years ago I had a white banded fishing spider in one of my ponds. Thinking it was stuck in the water, I scooped it out and put it in the bushes. If spiders could think that way, I’m sure it thought I was an idiot!!!
A photographers nightmare when in a swamp. 😳
Fabulous photos. I love spiders and would love to see one of them wrangling with a larger fish. I think that would be quite the sight to see.
Thanks, Laura. I have yet to see a spider catch a fish, but your comment made me think of a post from a few years ago that featured a Northern Water Snake swallowing a catfish on the Potomac River (https://michaelqpowell.com/2017/07/20/snake-catches-catfish/). Yikes!
Oh I remember that post because I immediately showed it to my kids.
I didn’t know about this…. thanks for sharing.