Non-native Crayfish Procambarus clarkii as Prey of the Native Fishing Spider Dolomedes triton

Ethan J. Royal^1,*, Emma Wilson², Bronwyn W. Williams³, and Ivana Mali²

¹Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701. ²Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695. ³North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Research Laboratory, Raleigh, NC, 27699. *Corresponding author.

Southeastern Naturalist, Volume 25, Issue 1 (2026): N17-N19

First published early online: 26 March 2026

Abstract
We describe the predation of the introduced crayfish Procambarus clarkii (Red Swamp Crayfish) by the native fishing spider Dolomedes triton (Six-spotted Fishing Spider), occurring on 22 April 2025 in a wetland in Wake County, NC. The spider was holding the crayfish on emergent vegetation and paused any prey handling or feeding behaviors while we observed. This observation adds arachnids to the list of native taxa documented to prey upon this widely introduced crayfish.

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