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> > Need help with mayfly nymph ID

RustySpinnr has attached this picture to aid in identification. The message is below.
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RustySpinnrMarch 26th, 2012, 2:10 pm
Musconetcong watershed, northwest NJ

Posts: 3		I recently took this underwater shot in the Big Flat Brook River in northwest NJ and can't properly ID the mayfly in the picture. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
EntomanMarch 26th, 2012, 3:13 pm
Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604		Hi Rusty,

Welcome to the forum!

Looks like Maccaffertium vicarium (March Brown) to me, based on the dark tergal banding and head markings. A much better look at the gills (and a few other features) is necessary to know for sure, though.
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
OldredbarnMarch 26th, 2012, 4:35 pm
Novi, MI

Posts: 2606		Kurt,

You seem to be the man these days...Mr. Bug-ID guy...You are working overtime there fella! Get much sleep? :)

How about that big fat, waiting to be popped off the rock there and in to a trout, caddis larva? :)

Spence

"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively

"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
EntomanMarch 26th, 2012, 5:07 pm
Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604		Yes, I quit my day job. Jason's pay is much better...:)

The caddis is in the genus Rhyacophila (Green Rockworm, Green Sedge). Based on what can be seen of the the head capsule and notum markings, I suspect the species fuscala.
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
RustySpinnrMarch 26th, 2012, 5:59 pm
Musconetcong watershed, northwest NJ

Posts: 3
Hi Rusty,

Welcome to the forum!

Looks like Maccaffertium vicarium (March Brown) to me, based on the dark tergal banding and head markings. A much better look at the gills (and a few other features) is necessary to know for sure, though.


Thanks, it looks different than most Maccaffertium I come across.
RustySpinnrMarch 26th, 2012, 6:02 pm
Musconetcong watershed, northwest NJ

Posts: 3
Yes, I quit my day job. Jason's pay is much better...:)

The caddis is in the genus Rhyacophila (Green Rockworm, Green Sedge). Based on what can be seen of the the head capsule and notum markings, I suspect the species fuscala.


I'm pretty sure that Rhyaccophila is attacking the cased caddis which is why I loved this shot. I had only noticed the mayfly nymph from walking through the stream and stopped to put my camera underwater to get a better idea of what I was looking at. Only after downloading this picture did I see the other action. In fact, I first thought I might be looking at a stonefly and not a mayfly nymph as I didn't have on polarized glasses at the time...
EntomanMarch 27th, 2012, 5:19 am
Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604		Yes, very unusual, especially the reddish legs. As for what that rockworm is dining on, not sure what the heck that is.:)
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
JesseMarch 30th, 2012, 11:07 pm
Posts: 378		That is a great picture my man, nice work!
Most of us fish our whole lives..not knowing its not the fish that we are after.
http://www.filingoflyfishing.com

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