Odd Creature

[Wanda]

I was just sitting outside vegging out watching my pond at work IAfter a
while I noticed something very odd, it looked like a twig was moving along
under water, against the current, waving up & down as if the current was
moving in the opposite direction. After watching this for a while I noticed
another apparent twig doing the same thing. Moving closer to the water I saw
a spider-like creature had made a home of the twig & was dragging it along,
much like a snail.

I know it's a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone had any idea of what
this might be? I would like do to some research on the net but wouldn't
begin to know where looking as I have NO idea of what the creature is or
whether it's a type of crab, or the fry from a damselfly perhaps?

[Charles]

On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 00:50:42 GMT, "Wanda" >
wrote:

>I was just sitting outside vegging out watching my pond at work IAfter a
>while I noticed something very odd, it looked like a twig was moving along
>under water, against the current, waving up & down as if the current was
>moving in the opposite direction. After watching this for a while I noticed
>another apparent twig doing the same thing. Moving closer to the water I saw
>a spider-like creature had made a home of the twig & was dragging it along,
>much like a snail.
>
>I know it's a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone had any idea of what
>this might be? I would like do to some research on the net but wouldn't
>begin to know where looking as I have NO idea of what the creature is or
>whether it's a type of crab, or the fry from a damselfly perhaps?
>
>


Sounds to me like caddis fly larva. Good fish bait if you take them
out of their house they've built.

[dc]

"Wanda" > wrote in
:

>> a while I noticed something very odd, it looked like a twig was moving
> along under water, against the current, waving up & down as if the

Sounds like a caddis fly nymph. These guys will use whatever readily
available material to construct their protective casing. I've most often
seen them use tiny twig particles, but I've also seen them use sand and
tiny pebbles in other conditions. It's basically a silk cocoon carefully
wrapped in sediment.

[Mean_Chlorine]

Thusly "Wanda" > Spake Unto All:

>I know it's a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone had any idea of what
>this might be?

They're caddisfly larva (Trichoptera). Harmless.
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/compendium/caddis~1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddis_flies