What kind of big black spider exists in rhode island and would live under a dock?

Question

i work at a day camp in rhode island....which is the STATE that is near boston (a lot of people confuse it with LONG island, new york.)

there is a big pond (which is filled from another pond)

and there are docks in the pond... we were giving the kids swimming lessons today and on the dock, there was a HUGE... BEYOND HUGE black spider.

ive never seen anything like it.

the lifegaurd said that there are hundreds under the docks living in the air pockets...

could you please give me a clue about what kind of spider it could be so i can look up if it bites of anything like that.

if you have a lot of information feel free to email me at [e-mail]

Answer 1

It is better that you take a look at these sites to be sure which spider you saw -

http://www.spideridentification.org/

http://www.badspiderbites.com/spider-ide...

http://www.aboutbugsbugsbugs.com/spiders...

http://www.pesticide.org/spiders.html

Answer 2

It *might* be a purseweb spider.  They are relatives of the tarantulas (suborder Mygalomorphae).  You can tell them because, like tarantulas, they have huge chelicerae that fold forward, instead of sideways in a pinching motion like most other spiders (suborder Araneomorphae).  I am not sure if they get up north to RI though.

Does it look like this?

http://bugguide.net/node/view/116685

None of them are considered harmful to humans, although I have heard they have really powerful fangs that can go through shoes.  The venom is weak to us though.

Does the thumbs down mean no?

Answer 3

This is a great site for identifying insects-go to this page-

http://bugguide.net/node/view/4/bgpage

Go to the spider page and then try clicking on

Infraorder Mygalomorphae - Mygalomorphs

which apparently are not "true" spiders, though they look like them to me.  There are some very big, scary-looking ones there.

PS-I live in RI, too.  When people out west confuse it with Long Island, I say "no, it's a state... go to New York and hang a left."  (how can you not have at least HEARD of it? there are only fifty darn states)