Rare Venomous Spider Sighting in Maine: Have You Seen It?

While I was in the backyard  with me wife working on our son's clubhouse, I heard her shout, "Elizabeth! Come here right now!"

So I ran over to her and she pointed hysterically, saying, "Look!"

The moment I saw what she was talking about, I was stunned. I've seen plenty of spiders in my life, but this one, nope, never before!

At first, we thought it might be a wolf spider, like the ones you see by the lake.

But it was clearly something else because the body was way too thick. It's size was the largest I've seen in my neighborhood. The size of it's body was as large as a couple of acorns and it's legs stretched out very wide.

So, I went online and started doing research and it was pretty quickly that I saw that this is a venomous spider.

 According to WGME, this is a fishing spider, also known as eight-legged anglers that comes out in the winter time.

The article also said,

"They carry a venom that can cause an allergic reaction in some people. But that’s not the biggest risk associated with a fishing spider bite .Because they eat freshly killed protein, their fangs are dirty and can have a lot of bacteria living on them. An infection from that bacteria is far more dangerous than the actual venom, Dill said."

Wait, what? A venomous spider in my suburban backyard? How did it even get here? There aren’t any lakes nearby. Is there a nest somewhere? Now I’m determined to comb through my backyard with a fine-tooth comb. Has anyone else spotted this guy in their yard recently?