Comment on Are spiders turtlely enough for the Turtle Club?
remon@ani.social 1 day agoEven if that particular picture was AI (I don’t think it is), there is nothing surprising or exaggerated going on here. More like it’s a rare thing. That’s totally within the capabilities of a fishing spider.
bottleofchips@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
Yeah I’ve looked a bit harder and I see the spider shape a bit better now (from underneath), the slight motion blur in places would suggest not AI but I’m not totally convinced. From a quick search these spiders aren’t that big so that must be a very baby turtle, and I don’t know what’s going on around the mouth but it doesn’t look right, nor does the interference pattern of the ripples.
Agreeing with me would make a lot of people a lot more comfortable 😅
andros_rex@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The sizes make sense - the turtle is on the smaller end and likely a juvenile, but both seem appropriately sized - the spiders can grow that big, especially if female.
I found this in a group for spider enthusiasts - these are the kinds of geeks that will look at a spider leg and get it down to class. AI is not good at generating invertebrate species specific traits yet. While this is pretty spectacular - not a daily event - these are both species that can be found in the same area, and these spiders will attack vertebrate pray.
remon@ani.social 1 day ago
I tried to click the link, but after having to identify motorcyles and busses 5 times in a row … I have up. Maybe I’m a bot.
Good thing I have an actual book!
andros_rex@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah. My spider book was given to a middle schooler more than a year ago :(
blackbrook@mander.xyz 1 day ago
It’s not a spider preying on a vertebrate that is hard to believe, it is the lifting. Even ignoring the physics of the situation, I don’t think fishing spiders hunt that way.
People act like they’ve forgotten that there are other ways than AI to fake an.
andros_rex@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Here’s one eating a frog.
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What specifically about the physics of the situation is making you suspicious? I’ve worked in an invertebrate lab, admittedly primarily with ants, and nothing about this raises alarm bells.
bottleofchips@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
TIL! Appreciate the somewhat scary education.
remon@ani.social 1 day ago
25-28mm body lenght is quite a considerable size. I think a cousin of these is often dubbed the “UK’s largest spider”, even though it technically isn’t. But they are up there. Yes, the US has tarantulas, giant house spiders and some larger wolf spiders, but Dolomedes is up there.
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Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
“body length” is quite a poor way to communicate the size of a spider, you really want legspan.
remon@ani.social 1 day ago
Arachnologists everywhere disagree :)
bottleofchips@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
I was meaning in relation to the average turtle but I take your point and appreciate the info. What’s the book out of interest?
remon@ani.social 1 day ago
Totally my bad, I should have given credit anyway.
It’s “Spiders of North America” by Sarah Rose.