There's a spider that lives entirely underwater

Just when you thought you can escape spiders by diving underwater.

Found in freshwater habitats of Europe and Asia, the diving bell spider is the only spider species that spends almost all of its entire life underwater.

Thought you could escape spiders in water? Turns out there’s also spiders that live underwater. Photo by Norbert Schuller Baupi on Wikimedia Commons.

And when I mean its entire life, I mean its entire life. This includes resting mating, laying their eggs and catching and eating their prey.

But in order to do all those activities, the diving bell spider still needs to breathe. So, the diving bell spider does this, by building its own diving bell - similar to those enclosed chambers that trapped air and were used by humans prior to the invention of scuba tanks.

As the name implies, diving bell spiders create a bell of air to survive underwater, similar to those used previously in the early scuba diving days. Photo by Secret Pilgrim on Flickr

The diving bell spider starts off by creating a dome-shaped web between underwater plants. They then rise to the surface and trap bubbles using their fines hairs on their legs and belly. The spider caries the bubbles underwater and release them into their web. The bubble expands as more air is added. After multiple trips, the spider can eventually fit inside where it becomes their home.

What’s even cool, is that because there’s more oxygen in the surrounding water than the air bell, oxygen naturally diffuses into the bubble. Likewise, carbon dioxide will diffuse out as the concentration of carbon dioxide is higher in the bubble than the surrounding water.

Aka, it’s a nifty trick of gases maintaining equilibrium with their surrounding environments, which clearly benefits the diving bell spider.

But it doesn’t mean that their diving bell doesn’t shrink. As nitrogen naturally diffuses out, this causes their bell to shrink. So, the spider must regularly replenish their bell with fresh air to prevent their home from collapsing.

Now when it comes to hunting, the diving bell spider once again uses its fine hairs on its body and legs to trap a thin layer of air. This thin layer of air allows the spider to breathe while swimming and hunting for its prey.

So, the takeaway lesson from this, is you can’t escape spiders underwater. They’re still everywhere and after you…