Urban Debris Artlog: Silky, spindly, spidery

More Neat Stuff

October 22, 2009

Silky, spindly, spidery

A Spiders Web is made from silk. Spiders have seven pairs of silk spinning organs or glands called “spinnerets”. Each spinneret on the spider is different from the other and used for making several kinds of silk: attachment disk silk, a strong dragline or safety line silk, orb web spiral line, glue-like sticky catching silk, swathing silk, tangling cribellate silk and a protective egg sac silk (to keep baby spiders safe).

The silk that spiders produce are used for building webs, catching prey, storing food, escaping from danger, making egg sacs, sending and receiving vibrating signals and for transportation on silken ropes called “ballooning” as the spider floats through the air on the strand of silk. Some silk strands are stronger than steel strands of the same thickness. The silk of the Nephila spider is the strongest natural fiber known to man and is used to make tote bags and fish nets. In a specific species, spiders can use their web to capture an air bubble; with this bubble the spider can survive and hunt under water where other spiders and insectswould drown.

Black Orange Spiderweb Doily
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