![]() ![]() There might be hundreds of kinds of invertebrates in a stream or lake, but only a few kinds of fish, and sometimes no fish at all. ![]() They make up most of the biomass and most of the biodiversity in freshwater. But invertebrates are much more important. When people think about what lives in streams, rivers, and lakes, most think about fish, or maybe tadpoles. Aquatic invertebrates are mostly insects, but they also include worms, leeches, clams, snails, mussels, crustaceans (like crabs) and mites (tiny spiders) that live in the water. These bugs are called aquatic invertebrates. Have you ever picked up a rock in a stream and looked at it? If you have, you have probably seen some bugs crawling on it. We can do this because certain stream invertebrates disappear if water is polluted, or if the stream habitat is degraded. In national parks and around the world, scientists use these insects, worms, leeches, and mites to tell if the water is healthy. Some, like the golden stonefly, even stalk and eat other invertebrates, like a tiger in a jungle. Some eat slime growing on stream rocks and others eat leaves. Some live for up to 7 years and others live for as little as 2 weeks. These organisms play many important roles. Some have slippery bodies adapted to rushing stream water. Some have body parts that look like they came from an alien planet. “Aquatic” means they live in the water and “invertebrate” means they have no backbones or even skeletons. Under the surface of most streams a strange world exists, made up of hundreds of small critters called aquatic invertebrates. ![]()
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