White Banded Fishing Spider

bugman

August 22nd, 2007 at 12:00 am

Categories

Spiders

6 inch white furry spider
I love your site. It’s fascinating as well as informative, my children and I love viewing it since discovering it while trying to find information on the following: This spider hangs out on our back porch, putting in an appearance about once a week. We live in the woods near Tallahassee, Florida. Needless to say there is never a shortage of insects, amphibians or reptilians in our neck of the woods. But I have never seen a spider like this, altho it does resemble my pet Chilean Rosehair with the exception of having a flatter profile. It is about six inches long, fuzzy, and attractively marked. It seems very placid and docile, allowing me to get very close to take these pictures. Online searches for white spiders have yielded nothing. Can you help us? Thank you so much for your time!!
Laurie Ryan

Hi Laurie,
What a positively gorgeous specimen of a White Banded Fishing Spider, Dolomedes albineus. We have never seen a specimen quite this white before. Dolomedes Fishing Spiders are harmless, and quite fascinating spiders. Many species are quite aquatic, and capable of diving beneath the surface of the water to capture small fish and other aquatic creatures. The White Banded Fishing Spider is not one of the more aquatic species. It is generally found in trees.