Wildlife
Raft spiders use the water's surface in the way that other spiders use webs. Ripples made by insects on the water's surface are detected through the raft spider's front legs. The short, velvety, water-repelling hairs covering the body and legs then allow these large spiders to do the seemingly impossible - walk on water. They skate quickly across the surface and subdue their prey. Of the 100 or so species of raft spider, all but a very few are semi-aquatic, living in and around areas of permanent water such as marshes and ponds.
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Fishing spider
A fishing spider uses keen eyesight to catch a stickleback.
A fishing spider uses keen eyesight to catch a stickleback.
Aquatic spider
Meet the predatory great raft spider - an East Anglian speciality.
Meet the predatory great raft spider - an East Anglian speciality.
Fen raft spider
Iolo Williams studies a rare fen raft spider in a canal near Neath.
The fen raft spider is one of Europe's largest and rarest aquatic spiders and was only discovered living in Wales in 2003.
The Raft spiders can be found in a number of locations including: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Russia, United Kingdom. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Raft spiders distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Dolomedes ( /dɒləˈmiːdiːz/) is a genus of large spiders of the family Pisauridae. They are also known as fishing spiders, raft spiders, dock spiders or wharf spiders. Almost all Dolomedes species are semi-aquatic, with the exception of the tree-dwelling D. albineus of the southwestern United States. Many species have a striking pale stripe down each side of the body.
They hunt by waiting at the edge of a pool or stream, then when they detect the ripples from prey, they run across the surface to subdue it using their foremost legs, which are tipped with small claws; like other spiders they then inject venom with their hollow jaws to kill and digest the prey. They mainly eat insects, but some larger species are able to catch small fish. They can also climb beneath the water, when they become encased in a silvery film of air. Six spotted spiders can also walk on water to get their prey.
There are over a hundred species of Dolomedes throughout the world; examples include Dolomedes aquaticus, a forest-stream species of New Zealand, the raft spider (D. fimbriatus), which lives in bogs in Europe, and the great raft spider (D. plantarius), which lives in fens, also in Europe. Many species are large, some with females up to 26 mm (1.0 in) long with a leg span of 80 mm (3.1 in).
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Bog
Brackish water
Lakes and ponds
Marsh
Swamp
Temporary pools
Wetlands
Helpless young
Carnivorous
Tactile sense
Moulting
Egg layer
Predator