Six-Spotted Fishing Spider

The six-spotted fishing spider, Dolomedes triton, is a spider found throughout wetland habitats across North America, from Ontario and Maine south to Florida and Texas and west to the southern Alaska panhandle and the Yucatan Peninsula, favoring pond edges, lake shores and slow-moving streams. Females are considerably larger than males, with a total leg span of about 60 millimeters against a body length of 15 to 20 millimeters, compared to 9 to 13 millimeters in males, and both sexes are grey-brown with a pale stripe along each side of the front body segment; the species is named for six dark spots on the underside of that segment. It hunts by day, resting its front legs on the water surface to detect ripples from prey, and is capable of diving nearly 18 centimeters underwater and subduing fish up to five times its own body size using venom.