Now I can spot them so easily, it’s hard to believe I never saw them before. Once again I squatted on the edge of the pond and within minutes I saw my first caddisfly larva in its homemade protective case.
This one was a round ball that looked like everything else growing in the pond. Only it was floating on top of the water, being pulled by the current and the wind.
Then I saw another, this one under the water attached to a living plant. I stopped counting after I had seen seven of them.
There were two floating on top of the water just a few inches from each other.
One a round ball of greens and another smaller larva surrounded by four or five, inch long pieces of grass ranging in color from bright orange to soft yellow. They were headed for the shore of the pond, right in front of me.
When the round one got close enough, I reached a stick into the water and some tiny feet emerged and grabbed onto the branch.
It made me wonder if this is how they get around. Do they pull themselves into their cases float to the top of the pond or stream and trust the current to deliver them safely on some grasses growing in the water or a stick or log that gets in their way.
I’ve been reading up on the Caddisfly and found that larva who live in ponds make slow water cases out of twigs, leaves and whatever other plant life that is growing around them. The larva who live in streams “are generally streamlined, solid, and made of pebbles and other materials to stand up to the stream flow.”
The larva eventually seal off their cases and develop into the pupae. When they leave the case they are surrounded by a transparent skin. Then they either crawl along the bottom of the pond to the shore or float to the top of the water.
Either way they they break out of the thin protective skin and fly away looking for a mate. They either lay their eggs on the surface of the water, diver under the water and lay them, or lay them on the shore, letting the rain wash them into the water.
This summer I’ll be looking for adult Caddisflies in the trees and bushes around the pond. I’ll be sure to let you know and hopefully take some pictures if I see any.
