Marsh Water

A jar of marsh water yielded hundreds of these larvae recently. Having previously been the proud Mama of a damselfly that I raised from a nymph I thought that these were damsel larvae too.

Until I took a better look at the picture this morning and decided that these were a different insect altogether. What clued me in were those gills on the abdomen segments---I don't believe that damsels have them but mayflies do and it's about the right time for a mayfly hatch.

And this explains why there were so many of these critters climbing around the marsh---it's going to be a huge hatch this year; better than any I've seen.