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Fish-eating spiders exist, and here is horrifying proof

Well, this is awful.

A fishing spider, lying in wait YouTube / National Geographic YouTube / National Geographic / National Geographic

FISH-EATING SPIDERS are a real, actual thing.

Yes. A newly-released scientific study has noted several species of spider catching and eating fish. And they live all around the world, on every continent except Antarctica.

“Our finding of such a large diversity of spider families being engaged in fish predation is novel,” wrote the researchers in Plos One.

Here is a wolf spider eating a fish:

mrkillerdeath20 / YouTube

The average fish caught by the spiders in the study was 2.2 times the size of the spider itself.

Here is an exceptionally large example of a spider from Cameroon enjoying a fish dinner:

duncantakeru / YouTube

The spiders typically wait just above the surface of the water, then use their front legs to catch their prey as it swims by.

Like this spider eating a frog.

National Geographic / YouTube

You can read the whole study here.

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Michael Freeman
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