If you ask people what spiders eat, most will instantly answer “flies.” If pressed they will likely mention other flying insects. However, the truth is that spiders, like most species on Earth, eat whatever food is available in their environment. So it should come as no surprise that large spiders who live near water have been known to eat small fish.

A new report published in the journal PLOS ONE by Zoologists from Switzerland and Australia documents the existence around the world of spiders who are known to go fishing. Zoologist and spider expert Martin Nyffeler from the University of Basel, Switzerland, and Bradley Pusey from the University of Western Australia report that five families of spiders have been observed catching small fish in the wild. Certain members of three other spider families have shown a fondness for fish in a laboratory setting.

For the fish, the spiders make terrifying predators. When spiders fish, they do not rely on webs. Many of them are capable of walking on the waters surface and some are able to swim and dive. The spiders use powerful neurotoxins to kill fish several times their size.

“The finding of such a large diversity of spiders engaging in fish predation is novel. Our evidence suggests that fish might be an occasional prey item of substantial nutritional importance,” said Martin Nyffeler in a statement.

“To catch their prey, spiders would wait near the surface of the water on the edge of a stream with their hind legs anchored on a stone or plant and pierce the skin of the fish as it swam by with a venomous bite. The spider would then drag the fish to a dry place to begin the feeding process, which could take several hours,” according to USA Today.

Most of the sightings of fishing spiders have been in North America, especially in the wetlands of Florida. In addition to insects and fish, some spiders have also been known to prey on lizards, salamanders, snakes, frogs, toads, mice, rats, birds and bats, according to Nyffeler.