Our spiders can swim, dive, surf and catch fish.

Warrigal

Warrigal

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Location
Sydney, Australia
Meet Brian, the surfie spider from Brisbane.
For the sake of people who cannot look at spiders, I've hidden the photographs

‘Surfing’ spider found in Queensland has terrifying set of skills

March 10, 201612:06pm
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Dolomedes briangreenei, affectionately known as Brian, can surf, swim and catch fish. Next thing we know he’ll be throwing a prawn on the barbie.


Staff writer and AAPnews.com.au

A NEW species of spider which can surf, swim and catch fish has been discovered in Queensland.

Australian researchers have named it Dolomedes briangreenei, or Brian for short, in honour of physicist and World Science Festival co-founder Brian Greene, who is professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk unveiled the spider to Professor Green in Brisbane yesterday at the festival’s inaugural opening.

“It’s wonderful that this beautiful native spider, which relies on waves for its very survival, has found a namesake in a man who is one of the world’s leading experts in exploring and explaining the effects of waves in our universe,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

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Brian of Brisbane floats effortlessly on the water as he waits for a nice juicy fish to come along.Source:Supplied



Brian, a native of Brisbane, is about the size of the palm of a hand and uses vibrations on the surface of the water, or waves, to navigate and find prey.
It eats fish, frogs and tadpoles as well as the dreaded cane toad. In fact, researchers say Brian is making a significant contribution to the management of the pest.

The spiders are also good swimmers, usually working from the sides of pools and off rocks. They can also been seen sculling across the surface with their two middle pairs of legs.

When disturbed or hauling in captured fish, they will plunge through the surface of the water and swim quickly to hide on the bottom.
Click to expand...
 

I tell ya, Warrigal, you sure got some unique critters there. Spiders don't scare me much, though. I'd still like to come visit.
 
Brian is actually quite harmless and would be fascinating to watch in action.

Unique is the right word for our flora and fauna because our continent separated from the others very early and evolution here took some interesting detours.
 
I've seen spiders skit across the water here. They weren't swimming though. That's interesting. How big are they? I can't tell from the photo.
 
The body isn't all that big because they need to be light but the leg span would cover the palm of your hand.
I've never seen one of these spiders but I imagine that they are well camouflaged against the rocks.
What is unusual about this species is that they are hunting in salt water.
 
Warrigal said:
The body isn't all that big because they need to be light but the leg span would cover the palm of your hand.
I've never seen one of these spiders but I imagine that they are well camouflaged against the rocks.
What is unusual about this species is that they are hunting in salt water.
Click to expand...
That's really interesting. In the back acreage of my property ( the part I don't mow) are all of these very large yellow and black orb weaving spiders. They look kinda scary to a lot of people, but I don't think they're poisonous or harmful to people. Spiders are interesting to me.
 
Orb weavers aren't dangerous at all but it is a nasty shock to walk into one of their webs in the dark.

When we had our outside extensions done we seemed to become very attractive to the orb weavers. We would eat outside in the evenings with lights on and watch them assemble their webs. By morning the webs would be gone and the spider would be hidden somewhere under the eaves.

I have one in my front garden now and a huntsman in my bedroom. Huntsman spiders don't build webs; they pounce on their prey. Consequently they hang about on the walls and ceilings waiting for their opportunity. Again, a biggish spider but absolutely harmless. The sudden appearance of one in the car can be very startling though because they scuttle very quickly across the windscreen.
 
There is a dreadfully funny chapter of Bill Bryson's " In a Sun-Burnt Country". He is deathly afraid of dogs and two feral ones are tracking him...he's just about to escape when he lands in a giant spider web. Gives me goose bumps just typing that.
 
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