New Spider Swims and Hunts Fish

There’s a new spider in the taxonomic world that hunts fish and other aquatic fare by swimming on the water, fetching its meal and devouring it back on shore.

The spider, dolomedes briangreenei, had a public debut of sorts, Mashable Australia reports, when it was presented to its namesake, physicist Brian Greene, at the World Science Festival in Brisbane, Australia.

Dolomedes briangreenei lives among the fresh-water streams in Brisbane and makes note of waves on the surface of the water that tell it prey is nearby. It will swim out on the water to make a meal out of insects, fish, and toads, hauling its prey back to shore to devour it.

D. briangreenei isn't the only spider that works in water worlds. In 2014, DNews reported findings that showed semi-aquatic spiders are distributed worldwide. Check out this gallery to see more of them.

The swimming arachnid can be seen here, in a tweet from the World Science Festival, as physicist Greene displays the spider that bears his name. (The spider, dubbed “little Brian,” will ultimately live at Queensland Museum.)

From Discovery News