---
title: "Water Spider"
description: "Dolomedes aquaticus — Owady i pająki. Dolomedes aquaticus is a species of fishing spider that lives and hunts along the gravel banks of unforested New Zealand rivers."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pl/animal/water-spider
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Water Spider

> Dolomedes aquaticus — Owady i pająki. Dolomedes aquaticus is a species of fishing spider that lives and hunts along the gravel banks of unforested New Zealand rivers.

- Scientific name: *Dolomedes aquaticus*
- Category: `insects` (Owady i pająki)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Jeziora i rzeki)
- iNaturalist observations: 443
- Wikidata: [Q2661102](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2661102)
- iNaturalist taxon: [388730](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/388730)

## Names

- en: Water Spider

## Countries with the most observations

NZ (281)

## Summary

Dolomedes aquaticus is a species of fishing spider that lives and hunts along the gravel banks of unforested New Zealand rivers. It prefer open riverbanks where it typically lives under rocks, usually less than 5 metres away from the river. Its colouring allows it to camouflage against river stones. Normally nocturnal, it will sit and wait for prey after dark, and can survive for short periods under the water.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolomedes_aquaticus

## Photo

![Water Spider](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/water-spider/medium.jpg)

Photo: Carey_Knox_Southern_Scales · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/197356058

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/water-spider?lang=pl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).