Demonstrating again on the Threatened Aquatic Ecosystems module, today was all about identifying and counting the organisms that were collected from the River Plym up on Dartmoor at Cadover Bridge last week. There were LOTS and LOTS of beasties to identify (and some of them were absolute buggers to key out), but after looking over the shoulder's of several groups, I finally found the critter that I was most interested in taking a closer look at under the microscope. Do you know what it is??? It's in its nymph stage and as an adult it still has a long body, long legs and fully developed wings and are normally beautifully coloured. Give up? It's a damselfly nymph (think the smaller version of a dragonfly) which develops entirely in fast running water before metamorphosing into a beautiful short-lived damselfly that flies above the water hanging out in the fringing vegetation looking for its next meal. It's not only signets (baby swans) that go through an ugly duckling phase before turning into beautiful creatures, but also soooo many of the brightly coloured and wonderful insects that we take for granted. So, next time you're outside, get down in the dirt, overturn some rocks in a stream and have a nosy... you just might find tomorrow's beauty in the most unlikeliest of places!
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