Scientists have found that legs of spiders serve the purpose of sails and silk of an anchor to help them travel across water. A new study has helped researchers figure out how the creatures are capable of travelling vast distances.

Also, the study has lifted the lid off the secret behind how they manage to survive if they accidentally land on water. The creature is already known to use strands of silk to catch the wind and fly up to 18 miles a day.

The University of Nottingham researchers studied 325 spiders they collected from small islands in English nature reserves. The arachnids belonged to the linyphiid and tetragnathid families.

During the study, the arachnids lifted their legs to create sails and dropped a length of silk to slow down the speed or get fixed to a rock. Abdomens were even used by some of them to catch the breeze.

The study has helped researchers understand that spiders rely on postures to use the wind direction to control their journey on water, said Morito Hayashi from the Natural History Museum. He added that whenever spiders feel the need to drop silk, they do so and stop on the water surface.

He said that the risk of uncontrolled flights is balanced by the ability to sail. Spiders having good flying ability were also found to be the best sailors.

Findings of the study have been published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. “Spiders can move from one land mass to another, and potentially across huge spatial scales through the air. If landing on water poses no problem then in a week or two they could be a long way from where they started”, said Study co-author Sara Goodacre.