What Are Water Bugs?

Water Bugs

What are water bugs?

Water bugs are interesting, exotic creatures that spend some or all of their lives in waterways. They have no backbone! Some are soft and squishy, some have hard crusts on their bodies, and some carry a ‘home’ wherever they go.

Many look strange and fascinating. They live weird lives and many have disgusting habits.

You find them in ponds, streams, estuaries and irrigation drains. You may even find some in your swimming pool!

Many are insects, like beetles. Some are tiny crabs and prawns. There are also snails, worms and maggots. Fish, frogs and birds depend on these spineless creatures for foods.

How do they live and eat?

Water bugs live and grow in interesting ways, with most starting life as an egg. When water bugs hatch, some look like their parents and have skins that grow, such as snails and leeches. Some have hard skins, such as yabbies, that need to be shed so they can get bigger. Others look like their parents but are wing-less, like the dragonfly nymph. Still others hatch looking nothing like their parents and have soft bodies, eventually transforming themselves into winged adults.

Some water bugs like to munch on dead plants and animals found at the bottom of the stream. Other water bugs prefer to eat plants and algae.

At the top of the water bug food chain are the predators like the dragonfly nymph or hydra, which eat smaller animals. Life as a predator water bug is not all hunting. They, too, are prey for larger animals such as fish and birds.

Why collect water bugs?

These weird and wonderful critters are a useful way to tell how healthy a waterway is, because:

•Some water bugs don’t mind living in polluted water, but others die from it or will move elsewhere.

•They are important members of the living world. About 99 out of every 100 animals are invertebrates (have no spine or backbone).

•Water bugs help many other animals and plants to live. They are important members of the freshwater community and perform a number of roles in the food web.

It’s easy to help find out the health of our waterways because water bugs are found everywhere there’s water. And they’re fun to catch!