The Water Strider

By Jesse
C.

The water strider is a
very cool animal. Most of my information came from the Internet. At the
bottom of the page you will see web sites to go to, to see where most of
my information came from. In all of the green I copied off of the
internet.

The water
strider’s habitat is on quiet water in small coves or protected ponds and
lakes.  They can burrow into
mud when their habitat dray’s up; becoming doormat until the water is
replenished. They also go into small streams, like ditches.  Where I have found most of the
water striders is in all different ditches. . They can burrow into the mud
when their habitat dries up; becoming dormant until water is
replenished.

Their food other small animals that fall into the surface
water. Water striders feed on live and dead insects
(insectivorous) and other aquatic organisms. The front legs of water
striders are short, modified for grasping and used strictly for capturing
prey. The middle and hind legs are long, have claws and are used for
darting across the water. As the water strider travels through its
environment, it pushes with its middle legs, steers with its hind legs and
is able to capture prey with its front
legs.

Here are a few facts
you may not know about water striders...

Water striders not only
glide on still water but are also capable of walking on the surface of
running water. Due to their light body weight, a water strider never
breaks the water’s surface, and its legs never get
wet.

The water striders description is that they move around very
quickly.  They have six legs
and they like to be in little hiding spots.  The water strider dose have hair,
if you want to see the hair you have to take it out of the water and dry
them off.  The water strider
dose not bite humans. 1/4 - 1/2 inch; long
with narrow body; body covered with hairs and dark brown or black in
color. Front legs are short to capture food; mid and back legs are long
for locomotion on the surface of water. The leg tarsi are covered with
fine hairs (hair like setae) that are difficult to wet. Thus the surface
tension is very great between the ends of the legs and the water, enabling
the insect to "walk on water". Due to this surface tension the striders
can be seen making dimples or impressions with the ends of their legs on
the water surface. If the hairs become wet due to oil or detergent on the
water surface, surface tension is broken and the water strider will sink.
Part of adulthood can be spent in a winged stage, enablin
igration.

Skating on the water.
These insects are neat to watch because they can move so quickly on the
water. Watch for them in ponds or quiet water ways, especially in the
mid-western United States. On the surface of ponds, lakes and streams
where they compete with fish. They have to keep moving so they don’t
become dinner for the fish themselves.

Resources:

http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/~kunkel/wanted/mugs/92296-rap.html

Photo
credit:

http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=00D2C000

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