
Most of us have seen these small creatures floating on still waters and even moving very rapidly on water. They look like spiders and yet not. These are Daddy-Long-Legs.
There is a myth that says these creatures are among the most poisonous but their teeth are too small to bite humans. But this myth is incorrect. The Daddy-Long-Legs that are poisonous are Daddy-Long-Legs spiders which are different from this one shown in the photo above.
Daddy-Long-Legs that we see on the waters are arachnids make their
living by eating decomposing vegetative and animal matter although they
are also opportunist predators if they can get away with it. They do not
have venom glands, fangs or any other mechanism for chemically subduing
their food. Therefore, they do not have poison and, by the powers of
logic, cannot be poisonous from venom. Some have defensive secretions
that might be poisonous to small animals if ingested. Basically they are
harmless to us. In fact they run away rapidly and we can hardly get
close.
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