Aquatic animals of rivers. Coastal animal habitat. Fish and Mammals

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Freshwater animals

Freshwater bodies can be found throughout the world in a wide variety of climate zones. These bodies of water are stagnant (lakes, ponds, creeks and swamps) and flowing (rivers and streams). From the smallest mud puddles to the largest lakes, from the tiniest streams to the largest rivers.

All this is fresh water, which is a very mobile system, sensitive to pollution and constantly subject to various changes: lakes can become overgrown and turn into swamps, rivers can change their course. However, it is here that many species of plants and animals find shelter that have adapted to life in or near fresh water.

Shrew

The water shrew lives in the reservoirs of northern Europe and Asia. Its paws have long toes framed with bristles, and the fur is so thick that water rolls off it when the shrew gets out onto land. This excellent swimmer is nocturnal. It feeds on small aquatic animals, but sometimes it bravely attacks prey much larger than itself.

Chinese alligator

One of two species of alligators, the Chinese alligator lives in the Yangtze River. It is less known than the second species - the Mississippi alligator, which lives in the southeastern United States in wetlands and calm rivers, feeding on fish, small mammals and birds. Both species of alligators have a very strong tail, which they actively use as protection and as a rudder when swimming. Alligators dig a lair where they rest and hibernate in winter.

Pike

The weight of pike can reach 16 kg. This predator waits for its prey, frozen motionless in thickets of plants near the shore of a river or lake. As soon as a careless fish or insect trustingly approaches it, it rushes with lightning speed and grabs the prey. In the ecosystems of small bodies of water, pike plays an important role, ensuring that the numbers of individual fish species do not increase too quickly.

The silverback spider, the only one of all spiders, spends most of its life under water, without even emerging to breathe air. It weaves a silky net, attaches it to plants growing at the bottom of shallow lakes or ponds, and fills it with air bubbles, which are delivered from the surface of the water on the hairs covering its body. When the web bell is ready, the spider settles in it and from here hunts for insects passing by.

Jacans

Jacanas are tropical aquatic birds that live in swamps, rice fields and backwaters. They have very long fingers and claws, which allows them to easily move along aquatic plants - for example, on the leaves of water lilies. Gracefully stepping from leaf to leaf, they eat insects, shellfish, small fish and seeds of aquatic plants.

Descriptions of aquatic animals

Taxonomy of animals included in the book:

Kingdom Animals Animalia:

· Type Sponges Porifera;

· Type Tentacled (bryozoans) Tentaculata;

· Type Coelenterates (hydra) Coelenterata;

· Type Flatworms Plathelminthes;

· Type Roundworms Nemathelmintha;

· Type Annelids Annelida;

· Type Shellfish Mollusca;

· Type Arthropods Arthropoda;

· Type Chordata Chordata.

All species have names in Russian and Latin. The Latin name consists of two words (binary nomenclature): the first with a capital letter is the name of the genus, the second with a small letter is the species definition.

If the species does not have an original Russian name, then tracing paper with Latin name kind, for example:

Hydropsyche caddisfly – Hydropsyche pellucidula. The description of the species is made according to the following scheme:

· Appearance;

· Habitat biotope;

· What does it eat?

· Ecology of the species.

According to the degree of dependence of animals on the aquatic environment, four can be distinguished: environmental groups organisms:

1) aquatic - reproduction and life take place only in water (sponges, hydras, worms, crayfish, mollusks);

2) aquatic, but can actively use other environments (bugs, beetles, green frogs);

3) development in water, the rest of life outside of water (insects: dragonflies, mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies, dipterans; newts, brown frogs, toads);

4) development on land, water bodies are used as a place for hunting, recreation, shelter (snakes, turtles).

The book pays more attention to the description of the aquatic phase of animal life.

Freshwater sponges are stationary colonies in the form of growths of various shapes: young ones have a crust of 2-3 mm thick, perennial colonies weighing up to several kilograms in the river badyagi have lumpy growths up to 70 cm long and 30 cm thick, in the lake sponge they have bushy finger-like outgrowths up to 1 m long. The grayish to green color depends on the algae living in the body of the sponge. The body is permeated with spicules - thin flint skeletal needles; when rubbed, a tingling sensation and a sharp nauseating odor are felt.

· On stones, stems, snags at shallow depths.

· They feed by filtering suspended microorganisms through small pores into the internal cavity, which opens into larger excretory ostia.

· Sponges are found in summer; in the fall, the colonies die off, forming asexually internal buds - gemmules (surrounded by a dense membrane of clusters of cells). These overwintering buds, about 0.5 mm in diameter, are visible on the break as yellow or brown grains. In spring, a new colony develops from gemmules.

River badyaga Ephydatia fluviatilis

Spongilla lacustris

River badyaga: general view and colony of a branch that fell into the water.

Lake badyaga on a flat substrate and on a stick.

Long-stemmed hydra Pelmatohydra oligactis

Green hydra Chlorohydra viridissima

Hydra vulgaris

From left to right: Hydra with male gonads, with female gonads, during budding.

The common and green hydra has a body in the form of a hollow cylinder 10 mm long. The body of hydra pedunculata is up to 30 mm, the tentacles are 3-4 times longer than the body.

· Various bodies of water with underwater vegetation.

· Small invertebrates, crustaceans.

· Attached with their soles to plants near the surface of the water. The tentacles contain stinging capsules that shoot sharp threads at the victim and paralyze it with poison.

· In summer, reproduction is asexual: a bud grows on the body, which then separates. Sexual reproduction begins in the fall. On some hydras male gonads appear, on others - female gonads, in which eggs mature. After division begins, the embryo becomes covered with a double shell and overwinters. In the spring, a small hydra emerges from the shell.

Disturbed hydras shrink strongly, so you need to observe them by placing aquatic plants in water.

Common (left) and green hydra (natural). Hydra dopinospedulata.

Hydras move, attaching to the substrate either with the sole or with a mouth cone with tentacles.

Bryozoan Cristatella mucedo

Bryozoan Plumatella fungosa

Creeping bryozoan Plumatella repens

Stationary, sessile animals that form colonies in the form of mossy growths or dense brown balls (bryozoan glomerulosa, 20-50 mm long), branched tubes (bryozoan creeping). The bryozoan colony is worm-shaped, gelatinous, and can crawl slowly: 1-15 mm per day.

· On plants, piles, stones in standing and slowly flowing bodies of water.

· Food (algae, protozoa, rotifers) is brought to the mouth by the flickering of cilia on the tentacles.

They usually live 5-6 months. A colony grows through budding: the incomplete separation of new individuals from old ones. In autumn, special buds with a dense shell are formed inside the individual - statoblasts, which survive the winter; in the spring, a young individual emerges from them and forms a new colony by budding. Sexual reproduction: Bryozoans are hermaphrodites, producing both female and male reproductive cells.

Fertilization results in a larva, which attaches a few hours after hatching and begins to form a colony by budding.

An individual organism of a bryozoan colony.

Balloon bryozoan: on branches (at the top of the left branch there is a colony of river badyagi), on a toothless shell, on a crayfish.

Bryozoan comb (ed. v.). Creeping (est. v.).

Favorite fish food.

Leeches Ordo Arhynchobdellea

Medical leech Hirudo medicinalis - length up to 20 cm. The color of the back is variable, but always with two narrow longitudinal stripes.

· Small shallow bodies of water.

· Feeds on the blood of frogs and mammals.

· Very mobile. Once a year it lays cocoons with eggs in the coastal strip.

The large false horse leech Haemopis sanguisuga is greenish-black with a shiny tint, 10-15 cm long.

Small false horse leech Herpobdella octoculata - length 4-6 cm. The back is brown or brown with transverse rows of spots.

· Coastal zones of slow-flowing water bodies.

· Predators, feed on worms and insect larvae.

· They swim, wriggling their whole body. The large false-cone leech lays eggs in cocoons above the water level. Lesser false conna sticks cocoons to the leaves of aquatic plants.

Proboscis leeches Ordo Rhynchobdellea

Fish leech Piscicola geometra – length 25-50 mm. The color is grayish-green or yellowish. The body is round, the anterior sucker is disc-shaped, clearly marked, much larger than the posterior one.

· Found in oxygen-rich waters.

· Can move, alternately attaching itself with the front and back suckers - hence the second name: surveyor leech. Swims or stays on plants, waiting for prey.

Snail leech Glossiphonia complanata – sizes 10-30 mm. The back is greenish-brown, with three pairs of longitudinal rows of papillae.

· Among aquatic plants in ponds, lakes, oxbow lakes.

· Sucking mainly mollusks, sometimes worms or insect larvae.

Shows care for the offspring: eggs and young leeches develop attached to the ventral side of the mother.

IN oral cavity Leeches have three jaws, which can only be seen by cutting the throat. The rear suckers are always larger than the front ones.

The pharynx forms a proboscis, which protrudes forward if you strongly squeeze the head end of the leech with your fingers.

Medical leech. Cocoon with eggs: left – appearance, on the right - in section.

Left: cochlear leech, dorsal view; right: female with eggs attached, ventral view.

Above: a large false horse leech eating a worm; below: small false horse leech. These leeches are called false horse in contrast to the dangerous horse or Nile leech Limnatis nilotica, which lives in the south, which has weak jaws and therefore sticks to the mucous membranes of mammals: the pharynx, larynx, urinary and female genital organs.

Fish leech and its method of feeding on fish.

Planaria Order Tricladida

Ehrenberg's mesostomy

Mesostoma ehrenbergi

Flatworms are 15-20 mm long. The color is gray, brownish or dark brown. The mammary planaria and Ehrenberg's mesostomy are transparent - their internal organs are visible.

· Various bodies of water down to small puddles.

· Small crustaceans, caviar, carrion.

· During the day they hide in the mud, under leaves, at night they crawl slowly using the beating of cilia on the underside of the body and the contraction of the abdominal muscles. The mouth opening with a retractable pharynx is located on the abdomen. The prey is first processed by digestive juices and then sucked out.

· Bisexual animals - hermaphrodites - partners mutually fertilize each other, after which they lay eggs in a cocoon the size of a pinhead, hanging it on the leaves of aquatic plants. Asexual reproduction occurs: by transverse division of the entire body. The ability to regenerate – restore the body from a small part of the body – is very highly developed.

Associated with this is the process of self-mutilation, or autotomy, when, under unfavorable conditions, planarians fall into pieces with the subsequent restoration of full-fledged animals - this can be considered as special form reproduction.

From left to right: brown planaria (dark) Planaria torva; mourning planaria Planaria lugubris; horned planaria Polycelis cornuta; angular planaria Euplanaria gonocephala; black planaria (black many-eyed) Polycelis nigra.

Planaria milky.

Dendrocoelum lacteum.

Ehrenberg's mesostoma Mesostoma ehrenbergi is often suspended from the surface film of water by racing threads of its mucous secretions.

Planaria cocoon with eggs on a leaf aquatic plant.

Class Hairworms – Gordiacea

Hairy beetle Gordius aquaticus

Hair-like long body up to 1.5 m long (usually 30-40 cm) and 2 mm thick, whitish or dark brown in color. The head end of the body is rounded, the rear end is forked.

· Among plant remains at the bottom of ponds and lakes.

· The intestines are reduced, adult worms do not feed.

The final host is an insect that devours an infected larva, in which the worm develops and wanders.

Hairy.

Class Oligochaetes - Oligochaeta

Common tubifex Tubifex tubifex

A thin thread-like pinkish worm, up to 80 mm long. Each body segment has 4 setae.

· At the bottom of silted standing reservoirs, in polluted streams and rivers.

· Feeds on decaying particles, swallowing and passing silt through the intestines.

· Extends the rear end of the body from the ground, which constantly moves to be washed with water - respiratory movements. Occurs in large clusters. At the entrance to its burrow it makes a short flexible tube from mucus and silt.

Reproduction is only sexual. Eggs (several pieces) are laid in cocoons.

Common tubifex.

Common pondweed Limnaea stagnalis

The shell is up to 6 cm high, up to 3 cm wide. The appearance is very variable: depending on the living conditions, the color, thickness, shape of the mouth and curl of the shell, and size vary. The color of the legs and body ranges from blue-black to sandy yellow. Eyes at the base of the tentacles.

· Ponds, lakes, and river backwaters rich in vegetation.

· Plants, animals, corpses.

· Breathes air, the reserves of which are renewed by rising to the surface. Usually crawls among thickets, scraping algae and small animals from the underside of leaves. Can be suspended by the sole of the foot from the surface film of water and slide along it. Hermaphrodite: When mating, both snails fertilize each other.

· Caviar in plump gelatinous sausages is glued under water to various objects and plants. Egg development takes about 20 days.

When the reservoir dries, it seals the mouth of the shell with a thick film. It can freeze into ice and then come back to life when it thaws.

Laying caviar.

Pond snail shells different types. Top row, from left to right: common Limnaea stagnalis, marsh L. palustris, long-eared L. auricularia (with low and high curl). Bottom row: oval pond snail (ovoid) L. ovata (with low and high curl), peregra L. peregra, glabra L. glabra, small L. Truncatula.

Aplexa and phys

Family Physidae

Snails with shells twisted to the left. From left to right: Aplexa hypnorum (swamps, drying up puddles, overgrown streams); Physa fontinalis (slow-flowing streams, lakes, ponds); Physa acuta (rivers and streams) southern regions).

Frilled beetle Amphipeplea glutinosa

Amphipeplea glutinosa has a thin and fragile shell. Found in ponds and lakes in spring and the first half of summer. By mid-summer it lays eggs and dies.

Toothless swan.

Above: The artist's pearl barley Unio pictorum - artists mixed paints in its shell. Below: wedge-shaped (swollen) pearl barley Unio tumidus and thick pearl barley Unio crassus.

River pea Pisidium amniocum.

Peas of other types, side and front views.

Calyxes of Ancylus sp.

Left: lake calyx Ancylus (Acroloxus) lacustris – length 7-8 mm. Found in standing ponds on the stems and leaves of plants. Right: river calyx Ancylus fluviatilis – up to 5 mm long. Lives only in flowing bodies of water.

Coils Planorbis sp.

Coil shells. Top row, from left to right, bottom and side views: shiny Planorbis nitidus, combed Pl. crista, twisted Pl. contortus, flattened Pl. complanatus, seven-coil Pl. septemgyratus, curl Pl. vortex. Bottom row: bordered Planorbis planorbis, keeled Pl. carinatus, horny Pl. corneus. Horny coil - visible blood vessels (on the leg under the shell); on the right is a laying of eggs in the form of a flat gelatinous plate.

Widely distributed in various bodies of water. They eat plant foods. When the reservoir dries out, they bury themselves in wet silt or cover the mouth of the shell with a thick film. They can live without water for up to three months.

The eggs are laid in a horny coil in the form of a flat, gelatinous plate.

Prosobranchia – Prosobranchia

Luzhanki Viviparus sp.

Viviparous meadow Viviparus contectus (left), River meadow V. Viviparus.

The shell is spirally curled, in the form of a blunt cone. Its color is yellowish-brown, with three dark brown stripes along the curls. The height of the shell in the viviparous meadow Viviparus contectus is up to 40 mm, in the river meadow Viviparus viviparus up to 25 mm. The body is dark with small yellow spots. On the leg there is a horny cap that can tightly close the mouth of the shell.

· Floodplain reservoirs with a muddy bottom, river water – in rivers.

· Algae, plant residues.

· Breathing through the gills. They crawl along the bottom without rising to the surface. Dioecious. The eggs develop in the female’s oviduct (12-20 embryos at a time) - already formed snails emerge. They breed throughout the year.

Resistant to low temperatures– tolerate freezing into ice.

Bithynia sp.

From left to right: Bithynia tentaculata, Bithynia leachi, clutch of eggs.

The height of the yellowish-brown shell is 10-12 mm. Often found on coastal stones, in silt, in the axils of leaves of aquatic plants in flowing and closed water bodies. They can cover the sink hole with a lime lid. They readily eat green algae deposits on underwater objects.

Valvata sp. valves

From left to right: valve piscinalis Valvata piscinalis, valve macrostoma Val. macrostoma. On the far right is the cristate valve protruding from the shell. The left tentacle-shaped pinnate process is the gill. At the back of the leg there is a locking horny cap.

Shell height 8-12 mm. The color is olive-brown in different shades. They are found on muddy soil, aquatic plants in rivers, lakes, and ponds.

Toothless swan (common)

Pearl barley Unio sp.

A shell of two valves connected on the dorsal side by a hinge ligament. The mollusk can close and hold the valves tightly with strong closing muscles. The inside of the shell is lined with a layer of mother-of-pearl. The toothless shell has an oval, thin greenish or Brown, up to 20 cm long. The genus of pearl barley has an elongated, hard, olive-colored shell, up to 15 cm long. There are teeth inside the valves near the hinge ligament.

· Stagnant and slowly flowing bodies of water.

· They feed by filtering out small animals from the current of water entering the gill cavity.

Peas Pisidium sp.

Sharovka Sphaerium sp.

Small bivalves. Light pea shells with apex shifted from the center to the rear edge, 3-7 mm in size. In balls, the apex is located in the middle of a yellow or brown shell, the size of which is more than 10 mm.

· Silty or sandy coastal areas of rivers and lakes.

· They feed on small organisms that come with the flow of water during respiration.

· They crawl along the bottom with the help of a long pointed leg, placing two tubes on the opposite side into the gap between the valves: an inlet siphon (draws water into the cavity of the shell) and an outlet siphon. Sharovki are “viviparous” hermaphrodites - there is no stage of free-swimming larvae in development: the eggs are hatched in special brood chambers on the internal gills, and the juveniles develop there. Fully formed, independent, only very small mollusks enter the water.

When reservoirs dry up, they burrow into the silt and wait out unfavorable conditions there.

Spring shieldbill Lepidurus apus

Triops cancriformis

A soft gable shield of green-brown color covers the head, chest and part of the abdomen, at the end of which there are two long thread-like appendages. Length 4-6 cm.

· Small temporary drying up reservoirs.

· Soft invertebrates, tadpoles, juveniles, tender parts of plants.

· Are found almost exclusively females. They swim belly up. In search of food, they stir up the soil at the bottom.

They develop from unfertilized eggs to maturity in two to three weeks, and molt up to 40 times. Layed small eggs with a durable shell tolerate drying out, freezing and remain viable for 7-9 years. In favorable conditions, the next year a larva emerges from the egg.

Left: spring scale. Right: triops scale - from the dorsal and ventral sides (est. v.).

Cyzicus tetracerum

Cizicus is a small crustacean 10-12 mm long. The body is flat, enclosed in a bivalve transparent pinkish-greenish shell. It clearly shows concentric growth lines - the number of molts. Found in early spring in shallow temporary reservoirs. Digs in the ground, stirring up silt in search of small organisms. 19 days after the larva emerges from the egg, it reaches maturity. Eggs tolerate drying and freezing well.

Cyzicus tetracerum.

Branchipus stagnalis

Branchipus is a translucent, graceful crustacean. Swims with the ventral side up. Length about 10 mm. Lives in temporary drying up reservoirs. It feeds on algae and decaying plant debris. The eggs are unusually resistant: they can withstand complete drying out and sudden temperature fluctuations. Capable of developing after 4 years of dormancy. The main route of spread is the transfer of eggs by the wind along with dust to places suitable for development.

Amphipod Gammarus pulex

The body is compressed laterally. Body length 10-20 mm. Females are smaller than males. The color is gray, reddish.

· Coastal zone of flowing water bodies with clean water.

· Plant food, carrion. Less likely to be predatory.

· Moves lying on its side, bending and unbending the body. Disturbed by rapid tremors, he hides under shelters. Once on land, it jumps to the water with the same speed.

· Reproduction usually occurs in the first half of summer. Fertilized eggs are laid in the brood pouch, where they develop. The breeding season is extended, so crustaceans of different ages can be found in the population.

In late autumn, it burrows into the ground and falls into torpor.

On the left is a male, on the right is a female (magnification 2 times).

Mating lasts several days: above - the male holds the female, waiting for her to molt; below - copulation (the male is darkened).

Water burro Asellus aquaticus

The body is grayish-brown, flattened. Length 15-20 mm. The male is larger than the female.

· Coastal part of reservoirs, thickets of aquatic plants.

· Dead parts of plants.

· Slowly crawls along the bottom or stays motionless among rotting plant debris. When the reservoir dries out, it buries itself in silt and falls into a state of torpor until it is filled again. When grabbed, it easily discards its limbs (autotomy), which then regenerate.

· Eggs (from several dozen to hundreds or more) develop in the brood chamber on the female’s abdomen for 2-3 weeks. Then the juveniles, having reached 1.5 mm in length, leave the brood chamber.

Can live in heavily polluted water bodies.

Asellus aquaticus: On the left is a female with a brood chamber - ventral view. On the right is a male - top view (magnification 2 times).

Crayfish Astacus leptodactylus

The head and chest are covered with a hard shell of dark brown or olive color. Length 10-17 cm. Males are larger than females. On the front pair of walking legs there are claws - organs for capturing prey.

· Clean rivers and lakes.

· Mainly plant foods, small animals, carrion.

· Twilight-night activity. During the day it hides in shelter: in burrows, under snags, stones. At night it crawls along the bottom in search of food. When in danger, it can swim backwards in jerks, quickly bending its abdomen. It molts periodically, shedding its old shell.

· After mating in the fall, the female attaches the fertilized eggs to her abdominal legs. The larval stage passes under the shell of the egg, and in the spring of next year a small crustacean hatches, which is held by claws on the mother’s legs for another two weeks.

The narrow-clawed crayfish spreads to the north, displacing another species - the broad-clawed crayfish Astacus astacus. The reasons for the displacement are not completely clear: it is assumed that through hybrid crossing and the disappearance of characteristics of the species in descendants.

Astacus leptodactylus.

On the left is the claw of a broad-fingered crayfish, on the right is a narrow-fingered crayfish.

Abdomen of a female with eggs, ventral view.

Crustaceans and egg shells hanging on the mother's leg.

A crustacean after the third molt (length 15 mm), which has passed to independent life.

Spiders Order Aranei

Silverfish, or Water Spider Argyroneta aquatica. Length 1-2 cm. Color from yellow-gray to almost black. Runs easily on land and swims well, rowing with all its legs. Lives in water bodies rich in vegetation. It breathes air, which it takes with it in the form of a silver bubble enveloping the body. Feeds on small animals.

It builds a cobweb cocoon up to 4 cm in size under water, filled with air. The spider rests in it, hangs it (see picture) and eats its prey. It often overwinters in empty pond shells or coils, filling it with air and sealing the hole. In autumn, such cocoon shells float on the surface of reservoirs.

Dolomedes (Fringed Huntsman Spider) Dolomedes fimbriatus (n.). Found on coastal plants. Doesn't build networks. When in danger and chasing prey, it easily runs across the water and dives. The female constantly carries a cocoon with eggs with her.

Water mites Order Acariformes

Water mites (group Hydrachnellae) are often found in densely overgrown ponds, ditches, and puddles. The color is bright red, yellow, orange, brown. Sizes from 1 to 8 mm. Many species swim well, some only crawl. They breathe through their skin.

Predators – catch and suck out small crustaceans and insect larvae.

Mayflies Order Ephemeroptera

Mayflies are delicate insects with three or two long tail filaments. Body length 1-2 cm, wingspan 2-5 cm. Adult insects hatch simultaneously and in large quantities– the water seems to boil from the flying insects (the mayfly feast begins for the fish – the bite disappears for several days). Adults do not feed, live only 2-5 days, and quickly die after mating and laying eggs in the water.

The larvae have three tail filaments and tracheal gills on the abdominal segments. Environmental groups (from left to right): burrowing form, larva from fast waters, crawling form, floating form (uv. 3 times).

Mayfly: common. Ephemera vulgata; Diptera Cloeop dipterum.

· Found in standing and flowing bodies of water.

· The larvae of some mayfly species are predators, many species are herbivorous (algae, detritus, silt).

· Development lasts 2-3 years. Larvae are divided into four ecological groups: 1) burrowing (compressed body, strong legs) - they make holes in the ground; 2) from fast waters (flat body, tenacious legs) - on the underside of the stones; 3) crawlers (the body is often covered with sand or silt) - they calmly climb along the bottom and plants; 4) swimming (the body is slender, with wide gills and tail filaments).

Features of development: mayflies have an intermediate immature winged form - subimago, which emerges from the larva. After a few hours or a day, the subimago molts, and a sexually mature individual emerges. Among insects, this is the only example of a winged molt.

Dragonflies Order Odonata

On the left are Homoptera dragonflies, on the right are Hemoptera dragonflies.

Dragonflies are aerial predators with a long abdomen, four wings and large compound eyes. They are divided into two suborders: homoptera - the front and hind wings are the same, the eyes are separated by a wide gap, and heteroptera - the hind wings are very different from the front.

Dragonfly larva mask: folded on the left; on the right - straightened.

The larvae of homoptera dragonflies have a long, elongated, thin body with three leaf-shaped gill plates at the posterior end. They swim using oscillatory body movements. The larvae of heteroptera dragonflies have a stocky, wide, thick body and no tail gills. They swim by pushing water out of their hindgut - like a rocket.

Larvae of homoptera dragonflies (e.g.). From left to right: gorgeous -young woman Calopteryx virgo, arrow Coenagrion sp., arrow Enallagma sp., lute Lester sp.

· In any standing or slowly flowing bodies of water.

· All dragonfly larvae are predators. They eat small crustaceans, mosquito larvae, beetles, mayflies, and fish fry.

Clutches of eggs, from left to right: dragonflies Lester sp. appearance and in cross-section (eggs are embedded in plant tissue), the arrow is beautiful Coenagrion pulchellum (on the underside of the leaf); dragonflies - Lubellula sp., bronze baboon Cordulia aopea, two-spotted babushka Epitheca bimaculata (in the form of gelatinous clots).

The larvae motionlessly guard their prey, which they quickly grab with their mask (modified lower lip). Development can take from several months to 2-3 years.

Consecutive stages of dragonfly emergence from larva.

Larvae of homoptera dragonflies (e.g.).

Top row: grandmother Cordulia sp., grandfather Gomrhus sp., somatochlora Somatochlora sp., Gomrhus sp., Cordulegaster annulatus. Bottom row: Sympetrum sp., Libellula sp., Leucorrhinia sp., Aeschna sp., Anax imperator.

Stoneflies Order Plecoptera

Adult stoneflies are insects up to 2.5 cm long, with an oblong soft body, multi-segmented long antennae, four transparent wings (at rest, folded flat over the abdomen) and two cerci - caudal filaments. They fly sluggishly and little, but run well. They don't eat.

Paw stoneflies Perla sp.

Appear early in spring. Females shed their eggs, plunging the end of their abdomen into the water in flight. The larvae are 1-2 cm in size and yellow-brown or brown-gray in color. The legs are long and tenacious. Characteristic signs larvae: 1) two tail filaments and long antennae; 2) abdomen without tracheal gills; 3) there are two claws on the paws.

· Streams and rivers with fast current.

· Larvae are predatory: they catch small aquatic animals.

· They can run quickly along the bottom, swim well, but are usually inactive - clinging to stones, they lie in wait for prey. The larvae develop for one year (in northern rivers two to three years), grow, molting many times.

Perla sp.

They overwinter already with the rudiments of wings. After the imago emerges, the shed skins of the larvae can be found on stones and tree trunks near the water.

Stonefly larvae of different species. (4 times increase).

Stonefly imago: Burmeister's Chloroperla burmeisteri (2 times increase); gray Nemoura cinerea (2 times increase); edged Perla marginata.

Bedbugs Order Heteroptera

Smooth Notonecta glauca

From top to bottom: smoothie in flight, from the dorsal and ventral sides.

The tiny smoothie Plea leachi is a light yellow predatory bug measuring 2.5-3 mm.

Common water bug Naucoris cimicoides is a predatory bug that prefers stagnant bodies of water.

The summer water bug or water bug Aphelochirus montandoni (aestivalis) has no wings, breathes with gills, and leads a bottom-dwelling lifestyle in rivers with fast currents.

Water scorpion Nera cinerea and different stages development of its larvae (2 times increase), egg laying. Brownish in color, slow predator. Found in calm, shallow water bodies.

Underwater, the back is silvery and the belly is brown. Size 13-17 mm. The sharp proboscis is bent to the abdomen.

· Standing and flowing bodies of water.

· Predator: attacks everyone it can overpower. Waiting for prey, it hangs at the surface of the water.

· Swims well and quickly with its belly up, paddling with its hind legs. Breathing hole at the end of the abdomen. When diving, it captures the air supply under the elytra. At night it can fly long distances, starting directly from the water.

· Lays eggs on aquatic plants. The larvae are similar to adults, but smaller and without wings.

When caught, it can give a strong and painful injection with its proboscis.

Ranatra linearis - lives in stagnant, overgrown ponds.

Greblyaki, fam. Corixidae are found in lakes and ponds with rich vegetation. They swim quickly with their backs up, often rising to the surface. Males chirp underwater in spring. At night they often fly in search of new bodies of water.

Striated paddlefish Sigara striata, Fallen's cigar Sigara falleni, paddlefish Corixa sp. (2 times increase).

Mesovelia forked Mesovilia furcata, Velia Velia carpai - predatory small (2-3 mm) bugs (perch bugs) walk on water.

On the left, water striders of the family Gerridae (10th century) - graceful predators of calm reservoirs quickly glide through the water; right: slow-moving rod strider. Hydrometra gracilenta - walks on water (magnification 2 times).

Beetles Order Coleoptera

Swimming beetles Dytiscus sp.

From left to right (est.): Dytiscus marginalis, (female, male); broad diving beetle D. latissimus; larva.

Laying eggs in a plant leaf.

Large beetles of clay or dark olive color, with hind paddle legs covered with hairs.

· Various calm bodies of water with vegetation.

· Both larvae and beetles are predators: they devour invertebrates, tadpoles, and fish fry.

· They breathe by sticking the tip of their abdomen out of the water. Fast swimmers and good fliers. The eggs are drilled (picture on the right) into plant tissue.

· Larvae pupate on land, burrowing into the soil.

Beetles overwinter on land or in water.

Beetles and their larvae Order Coleoptera

Small water lover Hydrophilus caraboides.

Great water lover Hydrous aterrimus.

From left to right: banded swimmer Dytiscus marginalis (female, male), broad swimmer D. latissimus. Larva.

Striated swampweed Hydaticus transversahs, ash-grass graphoderes cinereus, striated striper Acilius sulcatus, female, male (est.).

Sulcata pond snail Colymbetes striatus; water iris Donacia aquatica.

Tinniki llybius sp.; mulberry Rhantus sp.

Phalaropes Haliplus sp.; meadow grass Laccophilus obscurus.

Whipflies Order Megaloptera

Common beetleaf Sialis lutaria

An adult flapper has a dark body and two pairs of membranous brownish wings, which are folded like a roof over the abdomen in a sitting insect. The adult apparently does not feed.

Common beetleaf fly.

Pupa of Sialis lutaria.

Larva of Sialis lutaria.

Egg laying of Sialis lutaria: general view and enlarged.

Does not live long - a few days. Flies lazily and clumsily near bodies of water. Reproduction in April-May: the female lays compact, flat, dark piles of eggs outside the water on branches, leaves, and stems. A small (about 1 mm), nimble black larva after hatching quickly rushes into the water, where it develops, growing up to 2.5 cm. The body of the larva is dark brown with spots on the back. The abdomen has 7 pairs of whitish, densely hairy tracheal gills. The end of the abdomen is crowned by an unpaired feathery gill.

· The larva lives near the shores, among detritus, silt in stagnant or slowly flowing reservoirs.

· Feeds on small invertebrates.

· The transformation is complete. The development of the larva lasts two years: it pupates in the spring of the third year after hatching on land, in moss or in a damp earthen cradle. After a few weeks, the imago emerges from the pupa and rushes to the pond in an uneven flight.

Caddisflies Order Trichoptera

Adult caddisflies are inconspicuous in appearance, colored in different shades of brown and gray colors, 1-2 cm long. The wings, covered with hairs, are folded at rest on the back under acute angle, roof-like. The flight is reluctant and sluggish; they prefer to sit on coastal plants, deftly running across the surface of the water if necessary. They use a short proboscis with a tongue to drink water and flower juices. Some species emit an unpleasant, repellent odor. Eggs are laid in the form of gelatinous lumps on plants in water.

The larvae are divided into two types: free-living (they weave fishing nets under water) and those that build cases from various materials, which are held together by arachnoid threads, secreted by modified salivary glands.

· Various types standing and flowing bodies of water.

· Herbivorous or carnivorous, depending on the species.

· The transformation is complete. Larval development usually takes one year. It pupates inside the case, sealing it on both sides. The pupa, emerging from the case, swims upside down for some time in search of access to land, where it sheds its skin, turning into an adult caddisfly.

Adults of caddisflies of different species.

Clutches of eggs of caddisflies of different species.

Free-living larva and pupa of Riacophila.

Larva and cap of stenophila (uv.).

Free-living caddisfly larvae and their catching nets (a little uv.).

Caps of larvae of different species of caddisflies (a little uv.).

Butterflies Order Lepidoptera

Nymphula nymphaeata

The water lily moth is a butterfly with brown spots and lines along a yellowish background on the wings. Found along overgrown banks of water bodies. Lays eggs on the underside of leaves of aquatic plants.

Cover with water lily caterpillar: eating. view and revealed.

The caterpillar feeds by mining the leaf - gnawing passages in its thickness. After overwintering, in the spring it builds a cover 15-17 mm long, gnawing out two oval pieces from the leaf, which are held together with a web. The cover is filled with air that the caterpillar breathes. Crawling along plants under water, the caterpillar drags its case along with it, like a caddisfly larva, with which it is often confused. It feeds on plant pulp. Pupates inside a sheath attached to the stems under water.

The caterpillar of the duckweed moth, Cataclysta lemnata, lives underwater in duckweed cases held together by cobwebs. Case size 15 mm. Breathes air. Pupates in a reed or reed tube.

Caterpillar of the moth Paraponyx stratiotata. Lives underwater in cases made of two pieces of telereza or without them at all. Water respiration - using soft branched tracheal gills.

In the underwater moth Acentropus niveus, females can be in two forms - winged and wingless (from above). Wingless females lay eggs underwater.

The underwater moth caterpillar lives on the surface of the leaves, covering itself with a chewed piece.

Diptera Order Diptera

Common mosquitoes Culex sp… Aedes sp… Theobaldia sp.

Malaria mosquitoes Anopheles sp.

Mosquitoes are small insects (5-7 mm). Males feed on plant sap, females on animal blood, piercing the skin with their proboscis.

Eggs are laid on water in shallow standing ponds. The larvae breathe air, so they usually hang on the surface film of water; if there is danger, they hide at the bottom. Common mosquitoes sit with their bodies parallel to the substrate, while malaria mosquitoes give their bodies a more or less perpendicular position.

Left: pupa and body position of the common mosquito larva; on the right - a malaria mosquito (prefers clean water bodies poor in organic residues). The larvae feed on small organisms and algae. Development is about a month.

Mosquitoes - jerks, or bells

Sem. Chironomidae, Tendipedidae

Male mosquitoes with feathery antennae swarm over the water, emitting a quiet melodious ringing sound. Adults do not feed.

The larvae, the so-called bloodworms (up to 1 cm long), live in arachnoid tubes in the silt of various, including heavily polluted, reservoirs. They are carmine red in color. They feed on bottom microorganisms.

Long-legged mosquitoes Family Tipulidae, Liriopidae

Long-legged mosquitoes (sizes up to 2 cm or more) lazily fly through meadows and clearings from May to August. The legs are brittle and fall off easily - a protective device (autotomy). Dirty-gray worm-like larvae, 2-3 cm long, live at the bottom of muddy streams, ditches, and ponds. They feed on decaying plant debris.

Midges Family Simuliidae

Midges are humpbacked, dark-colored mosquitoes no longer than 5 mm.

When at rest, the wings fold horizontally one above the other. Females, annoying bloodsuckers, lay their eggs in a heap on stones and leaves washed with water. Dark larvae live in large colonies in waters with fast currents, attaching to underwater objects with a sucker with many spines at the rear end of the body.

Colony (e.g.) and individual larva (increase 4 times).

The length of the larvae is 7-10 mm. They secrete an arachnoid network along which they crawl with walking movements, first clinging with the anterior processes and pulling up the rear end of the body. Sometimes, torn off by the current, they hang on a long web (up to 2 m) in the currents, then return along it to their original place. They feed by capturing algae and small organisms suspended in the water with ciliated “fans”. For pupation, a cap-shaped house is spun, from which adult midges emerge to the surface in an air bubble. The bubble bursts and the midges fly out of the water completely dry.

Horseflies Family Tabanidae

From left to right: common rainfly Chrysozona pluvialis, blinding lacewing Chrysops caecutiens, bullfly Tabanus bovinus.

Stocky flies with huge metallic iridescent eyes. They have a strong and bold flight.

Horseflies: laying eggs.

Females buzz and attack animals to drink blood, which is necessary for the development of eggs. The raincoat willingly and silently attacks people. Eggs are laid in multi-layered plaques on plants.

Larvae (e.g.).

Pupa (est. v.).

The larvae fall into the pond, where they live in the coastal zone in silt, sand or floating vegetation. Food: mollusks, insects, worms, except for lacewing larvae: these feed on detritus. The larvae overwinter, pupate the following year, and continue for years from June to August.

Common soldier fly Stratiomys chamaeleon

An adult soldier fly is a fly up to 15 mm long, with a wide yellow abdomen along which there are black bands: imitation of wasps in color. Found on flowering plants near water bodies. Black oblong eggs are laid on the leaves and stems of coastal plants.

Larva of the common soldier fly.

The larva is gray-brown in color, spindle-shaped, 4-5 cm long. At the rear end of the body there is a tuft of hair in the form of a rosette.

· Shallow waters of overgrown shallow ponds.

· Plant and other organic residues.

· The larva hangs with a rosette of hair spread over the surface film of water, in the center of which there is a breathing hole. The head end digs into the mud, significantly stretching the body. Disturbed, it sinks to the bottom. Swims, bending like a snake.

It pupates inside the larval shell, which becomes inflexible and lies at the bottom. When the imago emerges, the shell bursts, and the young lion launches into the air with a splash.

Tenacious mud flies (silt flies, bee flies)

Ilnitsa is tenacious.

Ilnitsa tenacious is a dark brown fly with yellow spots on the abdomen. Length 13-16 mm. Hovering over flowering plants with a loud buzz. The larva is dark gray, with a cylindrical body (10-20 mm). The caudal process is a breathing tube that can extend up to 10 cm in length. This is an important adaptation, since the larva breathes air, but lives immersed in the fetid slurry of polluted reservoirs, sewers, manure puddles, garbage and cesspools, barrels with rotten water.

Snipe fly Rhagio sp.

Snipes are predatory flies; when at rest, they sit on leaves and trunks with their heads down, raised on their front legs. The larva is 15-20 mm long, brownish-green. The anterior end is pointed; the posterior end has two outgrowths covered with long hairs called gills. They are found everywhere in clean, slowly flowing bodies of water on underwater snags, piles, and trunks that have fallen into the water.

Snipe larva: bottom and side view.

Ibis fly Atherixibis

Females, gathering in a group, lay eggs on branches hanging over the water in one large cluster, then die - their bodies remain on the clutch. The larvae are very mobile predators, up to 30 mm long, greenish. The anterior end is pointed, and at the posterior end there are two outgrowths covered with long hairs called gills. They are found everywhere in clean, fast-flowing waters on underwater snags and under stones.

Order Caudate amphibians Caudata

Siberian salamander, or four-toed newt Salamandrella keyserlingii

Length including tail is up to 13 cm. The color is brown or brown, with small spots, and there is a light stripe on the back. There are 4 toes on the hind legs. The skin is smooth, with 12-15 grooves on the sides.

· Small forest reservoirs of taiga forests along the border of permafrost. Siberian species, the western border passes through the territory of the Komi, Mari-El, Nizhny Novgorod, and Perm regions.

· Worms, mollusks, insects, spiders.

· Very cold-resistant - active at temperatures of 0-4° C, at + 27° C it dies even in the shade.

· Breeds in well-warmed reservoirs in April-June, the rest of the time it lives in the coastal zone.

Hunts at dusk and at night. Shelters under loose bark, hummocks, and forest litter. It overwinters in the rotting dust of fallen trunks, deep cracks in the soil, where it sometimes finds itself walled up in permafrost. There are known cases of the revival of salamanders frozen in ice, in which they spent about 100 years.

Salamandrella keyserlingii: Adult during spawning.

Salamandrella keyserlingii: Lays eggs in a cone-shaped, mucous, spirally twisted sac (10-20 cm long) suspended on a plant near the surface of the water. After 3-4 weeks in June, the larvae appear.

Salamandrella keyserlingii: The larvae develop until August, feeding on bloodworms, fly larvae, and mosquitoes, and, having reached 3-4 cm in length, emerge on land.

If you carefully bend the lower jaw of a salamander, you can see the palatal teeth arranged at two sharp angles.

Common newt Triturus vulgaris

Female (left) and male during mating dances.

Length 8-11 cm. Olive top, yellowish bottom. During the mating season, the male has a scalloped crest with an orange border and a blue stripe from the back of the head to the end of the tail. The skin is smooth.

· Deciduous and mixed forests.

· Crustaceans, mollusks, mosquito larvae, on land – worms, centipedes.

· The breeding season (March-June) is spent in ponds, oxbow lakes, and ditches. July-September lives secretly on land in shady and humid places. Overwinters in burrows and piles of leaves from October to March.

Length 11-18 cm (including tail). The color is brown-black with even darker spots, the underside is orange with black spots. During the mating season, the male has a jagged crest on his back, interrupted at the base of the tail, along which a bluish stripe shines like mother-of-pearl. The leather is coarse grained.

Male in breeding plumage.

· Forests, shrubs, groves, open landscapes, floodplains.

· Beetles, dragonfly larvae, mollusks, tadpoles, fish and amphibian eggs.

· Appears in April in oxbow lakes, ponds, swamps; prefers deeper bodies of water than the common newt; as a rule, they are not found together. A week later it begins to reproduce.

Active around the clock. Sheds in water every 7-10 days, the shed skin remains intact, only turned inside out. Since June it has been living on land, inactive, and eating little. It overwinters in groups from October-November in rotten stumps, mole holes, cellars, and in non-freezing streams.

The female simply attaches eggs 4.5 mm long in the amount of 150-200 pieces in short chains on the underside of the leaves. The larvae emerge from the egg after 2 weeks.

The larva develops for three months, newts 5-6 cm long come to land, sometimes the larva overwinters, completing metamorphosis the next year. It differs from the larva of the common newt in its thin tail filament and long middle fingers, with which it clings to aquatic plants when moving.

Order Tailless amphibians Anura

Common spadefoot Pelobates fuscus

Body length 4-6 cm. Brownish above, with dark spots with red dots. Below there are dark spots on a yellowish background. The pupil is vertical. On the hind legs there is a large, hard calcaneal tubercle. The skin is smooth. The secretions of the skin glands smell like garlic and are harmless to humans.