White-banded fishing spider
Dolomedes albineus
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersPonds, rivers and shores8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin
The white-banded fishing spider is a hunting spider that lives by streams and ponds. It can walk on top of the water. It can even dive under the water to catch its food.
Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
The USA, near streams and ponds
What does it eat?
It hunts tadpoles and small water animals.
How fast is it?
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
White-banded fishing spider about 1.2 km/h (0.75 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Special water-repelling hairs let it walk across the water without sinking.
2
Before it dives, it traps a bubble of air on its body so it can breathe and swim under water.
3
It hunts at the edge of streams and ponds and even in the water.
you asked
Most asked questions about White-banded fishing spider
?Can fishing spiders walk on water?
Yes. Its hairs push water away, so it can walk on the surface.
?What does the white-banded fishing spider eat?
Tadpoles and small animals that live in water.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dolomedes albineus
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Dolomedidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Dolomedidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Dolomedes albineus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by xpda. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
European garden spider
Goliath birdeater
Brown recluse
Redback spider
Yellow garden spider
Bold jumping spider
Alligatorweed flea beetle
Filigree skimmer
Rambur's forktail
Swamp tiger butterfly
Needham's skimmer
Pale-spotted emperor