Spider Anatomy Spider eyes and other senses
Spiders and other arthropods have modified their cuticles into elaborate arrays of sensors. Various sensors, mostly bristles, respond to touch, from strong contact to very weak air currents. Chemical sensors provide equivalents of taste and smell. Spiders also have in the joints of their limbs sensors that detect forces and vibrations. In web-building spiders all these mechanical and chemical sensors are more important than the eyes, while the eyes are most important to spiders that hunt actively. Like most arthropods, spiders lack balance sensors, and rely on their eyes to tell them which way is up.