Dark Fishing Spider, Dolomedes tenebrosus (Nursery Web Spider family, Pisauridae) eating a fly at the bottom of a plastic pitcher. I discovered this scene as I was placing the pitcher under an apple cider press to catch the soon to be pressed cider. I'm glad I did. Not only did I save this arachnid from a fruity deluge, but I also got to share it and my excitement with the group of kindergarten students who were with me at the time.
It is not uncommon to find Dark Fishing Spiders away from water and indoors. Fishing Spiders might be mistaken for Wolf Spiders (numerous genera in the family Lycosidae). In general you can tell it's a Fishing Spider and not a Wolf Spider by the following features:
- they rest with their legs flat
- all eight eyes are the same size - not easy to see without magnification in my opinion
- egg sacs are carried at the front - not always present