Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Fish-Eating Spiders More Common Than Thought

Posted by samzenpus on from the we're-going-to-need-a-bigger-boat dept.

sciencehabit (1205606) writes "Lying in wait at the water's edge, four legs on a leaf and four legs feeling the water for vibrations, the Dolomedes triton spider can catch a fish twice its size in an instant. Holding on tight, it injects its aquatic prey with a deadly dose of venom and drags it to dry land, where it spends hours pumping it full of digestive enzymes and slurping up the fish's liquefied flesh. Fish-eating spiders sound like something out of a nightmare, but until recently, scientists were pretty sure only a few kinds of arachnids could do it. Now, a new survey shows that at least 26 species of spiders know how to fish—and they live on every continent except for Antarctica."

5 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. Re:what will the Earth evolve next? by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...a Republican who believes in Evolution?

    Well, that would seem like a fish out of water.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  2. I can do that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pfft, big deal. I can eat fish, too. Spiders are just being assholes about it.

  3. Fish is not happy by ag0ny · · Score: 3, Funny

    The fish in TFA photo doesn't seem to be very happy about being in the news.

    --
    My site
  4. Fish, not Flesh. by Kaenneth · · Score: 2

    First read as "Flesh eating spiders"

    all the 'nope' in the world isn't enough.

    1. Re:Fish, not Flesh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      What do you think fish are made of, tofu?

      Actually, tofu-eating spiders would also have been interesting to read about