Imagine for a moment that you are a small fish living in a stream in the Northern Range.
Your life is full of danger as you are prey to many other animals: fierce predatory fishes such as wolf fish or pike cichlids, ambush-hunting giant prawns, and even surprise aerial attacks from kingfishers and kiskadees.
As if this wasn’t enough, new observations from the streams of the Arima Valley suggest that small fish, such as guppies and jumping guabine, have yet another type of predator to worry about: giant predatory fishing spiders!
Your life is full of danger as you are prey to many other animals: fierce predatory fishes such as wolf fish or pike cichlids, ambush-hunting giant prawns, and even surprise aerial attacks from kingfishers and kiskadees.
As if this wasn’t enough, new observations from the streams of the Arima Valley suggest that small fish, such as guppies and jumping guabine, have yet another type of predator to worry about: giant predatory fishing spiders!
Giant fishing spider, Ancylometes bogotensis, preying upon an adult jumping guabine in the Arima Valley. Photo: Amy Deacon
Not only can these large spiders (they have a legspan of about 12cm) pounce on fish that find themselves temporarily out of the water, they can also dive - and even SWIM - under the water. Here, they can wait for many minutes, fully submerged, ready to ambush unsuspecting fishy prey.
And it isn’t just the fish who need to be aware of these ferocious predators; biologists should take note too! Much of the extensive ecological research on the Northern Range system neglects the potential importance of arachnid predators such as these spiders, who may be playing a significant role in shaping the ecology and behaviour of some fish.
Read more about these observations – as well as fascinating accounts of the same species of ‘super spider’ munching on large toads and hard-shelled crabs – in the 2015 edition of the Living World, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal.
To find out more about these spiders in general, the Wandering Spiders website is a fantastic resource.
But most of all, be thankful that you are not a little fish in a Trinidadian stream!
And it isn’t just the fish who need to be aware of these ferocious predators; biologists should take note too! Much of the extensive ecological research on the Northern Range system neglects the potential importance of arachnid predators such as these spiders, who may be playing a significant role in shaping the ecology and behaviour of some fish.
Read more about these observations – as well as fascinating accounts of the same species of ‘super spider’ munching on large toads and hard-shelled crabs – in the 2015 edition of the Living World, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal.
To find out more about these spiders in general, the Wandering Spiders website is a fantastic resource.
But most of all, be thankful that you are not a little fish in a Trinidadian stream!
ABOVE: Giant Amazon fishing spiders, Ancylometes bogotensis consuming a freshwater crab, a jumping guabine and a Beebe's toad (photos courtesy of Mike Rutherford, Amy Deacon and Reginald Potter/Pearl and Dean Caribbean Limited, respectively).
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