Spider (Books)

Spiders are invertebrates mentioned very briefly in the How to Train Your Dragon Book series.

Description
Spiders are a large group of arthropods belonging to the Order Araneae. They are characterized by their eight legs, two-segmented bodies (as opposed to three), and no antennae. The head and thorax segments are fused into a "cephalothorax". Spiders have a very narrow gut and can only ingest liquids, not solid food. Therefore spiders must predigest their food outside their bodies first. To this end, they inject their prey with digestive enzymes to liquefy them.

Daddy longlegs are mentioned in How to Be a Pirate. It is widely thought these are a type of spider, so will be dealt with on this page. However, Daddy Longlegs - also known as harvestmen - belong to the Order Opiliones, not the taxonomic Order of spiders. They appear similar in form with short bodies and eight long legs. However, daddy longlegs do not produce silk or webs, and they are able to take in solid particles to eat. Also, despite popular belief, they do not contain any venom or poison. Daddy longlegs have a wide diet depending on species and may include plant matter, Fungi, small insects, fecal matter, and dead things. They do hunt, but mostly scavenge.

Function
In the Book series, as with many creatures, spiders are used as a metaphor to describe something else.

In reality, spiders can be consumed by people and help keep garden and crop pests down.

How to Be a Pirate
In Book 2, Fishlegs' long limbs are compared to a daddy longlegs.

"And there he clung, like an anxious Daddy Long Legs, terrified but alive."

- Book 2