Thousands of mating spiders blanket lagoon with thick layer of webs

A series of incredible photos show the edge of a lagoon blanketed in white – but it’s not snow or dew, it’s a 300-metre long stretch of thick spider webs made by thousands of busy arachnids.

High temperatures have sparked a sexual frenzy among the spiders, causing them to build a vast network of webs alongside the lagoon in Greece.

The lagoon in Aitoliko is now shrouded in webs, burying vegetation in a mass of spider silk, filled with mating spiders and their young.

Resident Giannis Giannakopoulos shared images of a “huge veil” of spider webs on Facebook earlier this week, adding that the spiders seemed to be catching and eating a lot of mosquitoes.

Mr Giannakopoulos added it was “a strange an unprecedented spectacle”.

The Tetragnatha spiders, known as stretch spiders, are known for building enormous webs for mating when it’s hot and humid.

Professor Maria Chatzaki, at the Democritus University of Thrace said, “it’s as if the spiders are taking advantage of these conditions and are having a kind of a party”.

“They mate, they reproduce and provide a whole new generation,” she said.

“There are huge numbers of male and female spiders mating. The spiders will have their party and will soon die.”