32 . 
S.A. NAT , VOL. XV[ 
July 24, 1935. 
THE SPIDER AND THE FISH. 
By Alfred E. Wadey, S.A. Aquarium Society. 
(Communicated by Herbert M. Hale). 
In one of the fish ponds at my home near Adelaide, a flat 
rock juts over the water for about six inches; the underside of 
this rock is approximately half an inch above the surface. Early 
in February, 1935, I saw a mass of spider web over and around 
the ..rock but did not take much notice of it at the time. A 
few days later, however, when looking at this pond, I noticed 
a considerable splashing in the neighbourhood of the web. On 
invesigation I then discovered a red goldfish, with a body two 
and a half to three inches in length, trapped in the web and with 
a large black spider on its back. The fish was still alive and 
vigorous, but on removing it and the spider with a net, I found 
that the spider had bitten a piece out of the back of the fish, 
about the size of a sixpence. Naturally the fish died (so did 
the spider — with my boot). 
Has anyone in Australia had a similar experience, viz., of 
spiders catching fish with their web? 
I told Mr. H. M. Hale (Director of the South Australian 
Museum) of this happening, and he at once expressed regret 
that I had not saved both fish and spider. Then a week later 
(on February 10) I found, to my disgust, a second fish being 
eaten in my pond by the same kind of black spider! In this 
case only a few strands of web were present. The fish was three 
inches or so in length and it and the spider were sent to the 
Museum, where the photograph, here reproduced, was secured. 
The hole in the back, behind the head, may be clearly seen, and 
the picture also shows the size of the fish as compared to that 
of the spider. A.E.W. 
The notes furnished by Mr. Wadey are of unusual interest 
and apparently represent the first recorded occurrences of such 
attacks in Australia. Both goldfish, it may be noticed, were 
bulky, semi-spherical, “fancy” fish. 
The late Dr. Robert H. Pulleine has identified the female 
spider submitted as a species of Dolomedes. 
Only two other cases of spiders destroying fish seem to have 
been recorded: both are American and are quoted in Dr. Mc- 
Cook’s “American Spiders and their Spinningwork.” In the one, 
the observer (Mr. E. A. Spring, of Eagleswood, N.J.), “while 
walking with a friend in a swampy wood, which was pierced by 
a dyke three feet wide, was attracted by the extraordinary move- 
ments of a large black spider in the middle of the ditch. Closer 
