Underwater Spider

[Gripp]

Hi,

I'm not sure that these are the best forums to ask such a question, but i'm hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction...

today, i went to my apartment's swimming pool and notice what looked like two spiders (about 5 feet apart) on the bottom of the pool. i figured they were dead but when i got in i pushed water against one to see that its dead limp body floats away, instead it reared its front legs at me! so i tried to step on it, and it swam out of the way!

they were about the size of a wolf spider, (US Quarter) and a brownish color. when i pulled them out of the water they seemed to have black markings on their backs (maybe like a lightening strike pattern)
and both died almost instantly out of the water (though this may have been due to the net knocking them around when i was fishing them out.)


now, i know some smart*&& is thinking of posting: "ever heard of Google"
but i've tried, and the best i can find are pages saying that there is only one known underwater spider, that lives in Europe, and this one doesn't look like what i found...

i live in orlando florida, which does have some weird bugs, but no-one at the pool had ever seen anything like this.

so i guess my question would be what are they, where do they come from (like ponds, forest or under ground?) and are they poisonous? remember, this was at an apartment complex with children swimming, so its not just a matter of curiosity.

Thanks!!

[Toirtis]

Sounds like a common fishing/water spider....they are air-breathers and must carry an air bubble with them when they dive....they would have been very out of their element in a swimming pool, and probably slowly suffocating when you found them, as they do not swim well. They are not significantly venomous to humans.

http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Critt...g/pisaurid.htm

[Gripp]

i was thinking it may have been a normal swimming spider, but i never knew they did anything other than surface fishing.

at any rate, i think your credentials are enough to make me rather comfortable with your opinion. Thanks!

[Toirtis]

Thanks...although my credentials have really nothing to do with arachnids (and a lot more to do with herpetofauna), I have loved spiders since I was a wee lad, and have done a lot of personal research on them....kept a bunch...even ate a few...

By the by, welcome to the board!.

[jrp1588]

I saw something about those on discovery once. Don't they actually make webs under water and use them to trap air in a little diving bell and dip their abdomen in it and its hair trap the air. Wish we had some of those around here...I'm kind of a bug fanatic.