What are these creatures?
 

Hi All--Any idea what these little creatures are? Spiders? Ticks? Something else? They move really quickly and seem to like hanging out on the outside wooden surfaces. Thanks in advance!

Eight legs, is it a spider? Whatever it is, it's ugly!

What you have there is....
 

Drum roll please... :rolleye1:

a Zebra Jumping Spider (Salticus scenicus )

Interesting little guy, nothing to worry about unless you happen to be a small bug. ;)

More info here.

http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/2010/roth_lynn/

Zebra Jumping Spiders
 

Thank you so much for solving the mystery! Very interesting indeed!!!

Arm chair safari
 

Jumping spiders don't tend to bite people, even if disturbed, so they aren't scary at all. And best of all, they are very exciting to watch because they hunt actively, stalking their insect prey like a lion, creeping up by moving one leg at a time very slowly until they are within pouncing distance...then, of course, they jump on it! They still have silk producing abilities which they can use for rappelling and breaking a fall, but they don't build webs to trap prey, so no need to worry about them making a mess. Let a few live in your windows and they will hunt down flies for you.

It's actually beautiful
 

Spiders can be beautiful.:liplick: Like this beautiful dock spider that I photographed on our dock.....
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...dockspider.jpg

I'm sorry, but dock spiders are never beautiful in my eyes. You are welcome to have all of mine!

Amen.....I couldn't agree more!!

Looks like a new dock eh? I love spiders. So much so that I wake up at night in a sweat trying to kill one that isn't there. All it takes for me is to see one before I go to bed and I love them so much I get these vivid dreams of them crawling up my arm or something......My wife just loves the fact that at 2 am I am trying to catch a nonexistent spider in bed.....with a book.:look::eek::rolleye1:

nice
 

We have a duplicate at our dock this past summer. Any idea what kind of spider it is? If you put your finger near it, he would come towards you instead of away, I won't do that again

What are these creatures?
 

What do dock spiders eat?

When insects, small tadpoles or small fish move and vibrate the water just so, the spider lunges forward and grabs its prey with both legs and fangs simultaneously.

For the complete text, including a section on them biting humans :eek:, go here.

http://www.ottertooth.com/Temagami/N...hingspider.htm

The worst is when you go to flip over the canoe, after it has been sitting upside down on the beach so rain won't get in. And wham! A spider the size of a small dog runs past your hand :eek:

Myself and forum member Nhescape have been around dock spiders as long as we can remember. We will never like them. We have always been terrified of them. Every time we get in our boats the fear of the creepy dock spider takes over our thoughts.

What's worse is when you flip over that boat and a swarm of bees attack! Been there, done that. Ouch.