![]() ![]() In their silent way, mayflies speak volumes about water quality. Females live long enough to deposit eggs in the water where they sink down to the bottom, and the life cycle begins again. Taking to the skies, males and females swarm mid-air and mate. With no functional mouth parts with which to eat, their time is short. Regal looking with their gray, yellow or brown colors, slender tails and wings held above their bodies, adult mayflies have an important and singular task: to mate. This is one way that mayflies really distinguish themselves as the only insects which molt after developing wings. They quickly dart off to a safe spot near the water where they molt once again into the final adult stage (imago). ![]() There, their exoskeleton splits and they emerge in winged form. When they are ready to molt to the subimago stage, mayflies rise to the surface of the water. Mayflies are cleverly adapted to their environments by being able to swim, crawl or burrow under the water. At Teatown, as elsewhere, mayflies have flattened bodies which helps them cling to the rocks at the bottom of Bailey Brook as the rushing water overhead attempts to move them. When the dinner bell tolls, they prefer to feed on algae and other detritus. Their feathery or leaflike gills allow them to breathe underwater and they have two or three delicate appendages on their tail called cerci, that act as sensory organs. ![]() Hatching from eggs at the bottom of their watery homes, the mayfly nymph stage lasts anywhere from 10 days to two years, during which they molt (grow) often. ![]()
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