Ono had collected Japanese specimens of the water spider and found that species in Europe and Japan differed: An infraspection classification is herewith proposed mainly on the basis of a slight difference in the shape of male palp recognized between specimens from Europe and Japan.

Females, however, spend the majority of their lives inside their diving bells; they ambush their prey.

The young do not balloon like other spiders do, rather, they leave their nest and find their new homes by swimming.

[4] The Japanese water spider is unusual in that males are almost always larger than females.

When water spiders mate the male begins by approaching the female's diving bell.

[5] There has been some debate amongst arachnologists as to whether the water spider (A. a. aquatica) belongs to the family Cybinidae or Argyronetidae.

[1] In 2006 Hayao Miyazaki produced a short film titled "Mizugumo Monmon".