Hello all! Once again, I brought my camera with me while releasing Fry back to his home. After that, I went to a much more pristine stream to see what was crawling around, a pastime of mine. Hopefully I won't bore you to death with my little photo shoots... 
Anyway, prepare to LEARN! AGGGHHHH!
First things first, I went to release Fry.
Here is Fry when I first caught him.
Here is Fry 2 weeks later.
So, I took him back to where I accidentally caught him, the Susquehanna river. Here is him in his bucket, a couple seconds before being dumped back into the wild.
Of course, then I look in the water, and see things moving. One swipe of my net, and.....
Here I was all worried about having an effect on the environment by removing a fry...
Still, even one single fry removed has an effect on the stream, so it's better that I returned him.
Well, the Susquehanna was up really high, so I couldn't really get in a sample. So, I went to another, MUCH cleaner and more pristine stream to see what's wiggling around right now. A couple shots of the site.
Anyone who saw my Susquehanna River pictures can see that this area is much nicer.
So, lets see what I caught in my net.
This is a Heptageniidae, a mayfly larvae. They are easy to distinguish by their flat bodies, with their eyes on top of their flattened heads.
Stonefly larvae, possibly Chloroperlidae. Stonefly and mayfly larvae look very similar, but Stonefly larvae have 2 "tails", and mayfly larvae have 3 "tails".
Two more Heptageniidae. These guys are very distinctive looking, and common in streams, where their flat bodies help them resist fast water and hang onto rocks. They graze on algae.
As you can see, these guys can get large. This is about as big as they get.
Every time I go out, I think I won't need my waders. I'll just not go into the water.
Every time I go out, I see some little area I want to get to. Som rock that calls to be overturned. Some silty pool begging to be kick sampled.
Every time I go out, I come home with shoes full of water.
Planaria, right in the middle. You can see his little eyespots if you look.
Isopod. One of the relatively few freshwater crustaceans. Isopods are also found on land, in damp environments. You may know these land dwelling relatives as pillbugs or roly-polys.
Peltoperlidae stonefly larvae, on my jeans. These guys can be distiguished by their roach-like appearance.
Psephenidae, or water pennies. These are the larval forms of a land beetle. One is upright, the other is flipped over to show the hidden legs and gills. They cling tight to rocks, like freshwater limpets, and feed on algae.
This is one of the planaria. These guys get a lot bigger than the ones found in aquariums. You can see his little googly eyespots.
Here you can see how I kick sample. Just kick up the water in front of the area you want to sample, and have your net slightly downstream. You'll be surprised what you find!
I don't know what it is about me and managing to accidentally catch fish fry. I didn't think there would be any in this little stream, but life always finds a way. You can see he still has his yolk sac.
Almidae, a riffle beetle.
A caddisfly larvae, possibly Philopotamidae. A few caddisflies are free-living, but most make intricate cases out of sand, wood and debris. This guy doesn't have a case.
Physidae snail.
This guy came out of nowhere, and landed on my finger. See the 2 tails? This is an adult stonefly!
Another possible Chloroperlidae larvae.
Another stonefly, probably Nemouridae.
A bucket full of goodies. Remember this next time you splash around in a stream! :evil_lol:
Another bucket view. I see Heptageniidae, water pennies, isopods, stoneflies... lots of variety.
Hope I didn't bore you too much! I'm just always amazed by the variety of life that passes untoticed in even the smallest creeks. And these are just the larger things I found! Many smaller things, like blackfly larvae, nematodes and water mites are too small for my camera to get a nice shot of.
If you ever have a little spare time, grab a net, a bucket and a tray, and see what you find!
Anyway, prepare to LEARN! AGGGHHHH!First things first, I went to release Fry.
Here is Fry when I first caught him.
Here is Fry 2 weeks later.
So, I took him back to where I accidentally caught him, the Susquehanna river. Here is him in his bucket, a couple seconds before being dumped back into the wild.
Of course, then I look in the water, and see things moving. One swipe of my net, and.....
Here I was all worried about having an effect on the environment by removing a fry...
Still, even one single fry removed has an effect on the stream, so it's better that I returned him.
Well, the Susquehanna was up really high, so I couldn't really get in a sample. So, I went to another, MUCH cleaner and more pristine stream to see what's wiggling around right now. A couple shots of the site.
Anyone who saw my Susquehanna River pictures can see that this area is much nicer.
So, lets see what I caught in my net.
This is a Heptageniidae, a mayfly larvae. They are easy to distinguish by their flat bodies, with their eyes on top of their flattened heads.
Stonefly larvae, possibly Chloroperlidae. Stonefly and mayfly larvae look very similar, but Stonefly larvae have 2 "tails", and mayfly larvae have 3 "tails".
Two more Heptageniidae. These guys are very distinctive looking, and common in streams, where their flat bodies help them resist fast water and hang onto rocks. They graze on algae.
As you can see, these guys can get large. This is about as big as they get.
Every time I go out, I think I won't need my waders. I'll just not go into the water.
Every time I go out, I see some little area I want to get to. Som rock that calls to be overturned. Some silty pool begging to be kick sampled.
Every time I go out, I come home with shoes full of water.
Planaria, right in the middle. You can see his little eyespots if you look.
Isopod. One of the relatively few freshwater crustaceans. Isopods are also found on land, in damp environments. You may know these land dwelling relatives as pillbugs or roly-polys.
Peltoperlidae stonefly larvae, on my jeans. These guys can be distiguished by their roach-like appearance.
Psephenidae, or water pennies. These are the larval forms of a land beetle. One is upright, the other is flipped over to show the hidden legs and gills. They cling tight to rocks, like freshwater limpets, and feed on algae.
This is one of the planaria. These guys get a lot bigger than the ones found in aquariums. You can see his little googly eyespots.
Here you can see how I kick sample. Just kick up the water in front of the area you want to sample, and have your net slightly downstream. You'll be surprised what you find!
I don't know what it is about me and managing to accidentally catch fish fry. I didn't think there would be any in this little stream, but life always finds a way. You can see he still has his yolk sac.
Almidae, a riffle beetle.
A caddisfly larvae, possibly Philopotamidae. A few caddisflies are free-living, but most make intricate cases out of sand, wood and debris. This guy doesn't have a case.
Physidae snail.
This guy came out of nowhere, and landed on my finger. See the 2 tails? This is an adult stonefly!
Another possible Chloroperlidae larvae.
Another stonefly, probably Nemouridae.
A bucket full of goodies. Remember this next time you splash around in a stream! :evil_lol:
Another bucket view. I see Heptageniidae, water pennies, isopods, stoneflies... lots of variety.
Hope I didn't bore you too much! I'm just always amazed by the variety of life that passes untoticed in even the smallest creeks. And these are just the larger things I found! Many smaller things, like blackfly larvae, nematodes and water mites are too small for my camera to get a nice shot of.
If you ever have a little spare time, grab a net, a bucket and a tray, and see what you find!
