Diving Bell Spiders Use Air Bubbles Like Gills

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

Argyroneta aquatica. Norbert Schuller Baupi/ Wikimedia Commons

Insights into how the “diving bell spider” can spend its whole life underwater have been revealed.

The spider breathes air which it traps in a dome shaped web that it suspends between aquatic plants. Researchers have found that their air bubbles act like gills, extracting oxygen from the water and that the spiders only need to resurface once a day to replenish their air supply.