We were in Ellanor Lawrence Park where we had catch-a-critter. We went on a long walk to a pond and a stream to catch critters. We found a lot, lot, lot, lot more critters than anybody.
These are the critters we found:
Mudpuppies are a kind of salamanders. They have fluffy gills sticking out of the sides of their head. Not all salamanders have that.
Cray fish are cool. They can crawl and swim backwards. They live in the holes they dig in the riverbank (see The Bug Story 5). They eat mudpuppies.
Bullfrog tadpoles are BIG. About 2 inches or so. The record is 3 inches! They take 2 years to turn into a frog. They can be brown or yellow with spots. We got the brown one.
We found more than 10 mayfly nymphs in the stream and in the pond. They live in the water for months or even years, depending on species. They molt twice to become an adult mayfly, the only insect that does that. They only last some hours or days as a winged adult mayfly, and they do not have a mouth and cannot eat or drink — they have to rely on what they had eaten as larvae. All fish and aquatic animals eat the nymphs.
It is very interesting. Did you catch them all?
Wow, this is so cool that all these animals are living in one place! 🙂
Cool, did you catch any more?
yes! next time, we saw three snakes, a whole suit of snake skin, and accidentally caught a fish with black spots!