Spider and silk threads. Coloured environmental scanning electron micrograph (ESEM) of a spider spinning silk (blue threads). At the rear of its abdom

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Spider and silk threads. Coloured environmental scanning electron micrograph (ESEM) of a spider spinning silk (blue threads). At the rear of its abdomen are its spinnerets (not seen), structures used to produce the silk which the spider uses to weave a web and trap its prey. Some spiders also use silk to spin cocoons for their eggs. Spider's silk is made of a protein polymer called fibroin. It is very elastic and can be stretched 30-40 percent of its length before it breaks.

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Size: 5093px × 3461px
Photo credit: © THIERRY BERROD, MONA LISA PRODUCTION/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: abdomen, anatomical, anatomy, animal, arachnid, arachnology, arthropod, biological, biology, coloured, environmental, esem, false-coloured, fauna, invertebrate, invertebrates, legs, mouthparts, nature, sem, silk, single, spider, spinner, spinneret, spinnerets, spinning, thorax, thread, web, wildlife, zoological, zoology