Freshwater Invertebrate Underwater Pictures, Page 4

A large school of water boatman swims over a strange purple substance at a crystal clear spring.

In this picture: True Bug Family Corixidae (Water Boatmen).

The strange tubes all over this rock house tiny midge larvae.

In this picture: Insect Order Trichoptera (Caddisflies), Insect Order Ephemeroptera (Mayflies), and True Fly Family Chironomidae (Midges).

I tried to photograph this salamander but it kept scurrying away from the camera. The rocks in this little backwater are covered with a thin layer of very easily disturbed silt, so anywhere I followed it I didn't have much time to photograph before the water was too turbid for a good shot. This is the best I got.

In this picture: Amphibian Order Caudata (Salamanders).

This is a pretty clear photo of an Epeorus nymph clinging flat against a log. The big mound of debris on the bottom center of the picture, attached to the light rock, is a structure that's been puzzling me. I've found several in one section of the river. It's big, like 2 inches long and maybe 1/2-3/4 inch wide/tall, and hollow, like some sort of coccoon or something. It's clearly a structure built by some sort of little creature, but I'm not sure what.

In this picture: Mayfly Genus Epeorus (Little Maryatts).

The top of this stump is covered with mayfly and caddisfly life.

In this picture: Insect Order Ephemeroptera (Mayflies) and Insect Order Trichoptera (Caddisflies).

A big crayfish lurks under a log.

In this picture: Arthropod Order Decapoda (Crayfish).

There are a couple Epeorus mayfly nymphs clinging to this rock. One interesting thing I've noticed is that even though the stream has a lot of clingers, they rarely show up in my photos, and I've started paying more attention to the river bottom while I'm fishing I've noticed that clinger nymphs generally see or feel me coming and scurry to the undersides of their rocks before I can get in picture range. I think I have the same problem with stoneflies.

In this picture: Mayfly Genus Epeorus (Little Maryatts).