Chironomid fly - an important food for fish and birds

Although they look like mosquitoes, chironomid flies are harmless; they have no functional mouthparts.

In the mud, muck, and mire of a lake bottom, you may not expect to find anything living.  However, closer inspection may turn up red, maggoty-looking creatures.  Hundreds of them.  These are the larval forms of chironomid midges - a non-biting fly that lives only to breed and lay eggs in the water.

The larvae are red because they are packed with hemoglobin.  The protein is used to extract every bit of oxygen from the oxygen-deprived environment where the midges live.  The feed on the decaying matter at the bottom of the water body, although some species may filter particles from the water, some are predators.  There are many species of chironomids in the Okanagan (this was photographed at Wood Lake, near Winfield).  I do not know this particular species.

Many fish and invertebrates feed on the larvae, actively foraging for them.  After they have finished their larval stage, the insects pupate and slowly rise to the surface.  They frequently emerge in groups in what fishermen call a "hatch".  The feeding frenzy that goes on is a boon for both fish and fishermen, as a hatch often means the fish are biting.  Skilled flyfishers will make a fly or pupa on the spot that represents what the fish are eating.

The adults emerge from their pupae cases at the surface of the water body.  They then fly about, looking for a mate, and lay their eggs on the surface of the water.  The adults only live for a few days, depending on the species.  The eggs sink to the bottom, where the life cycle begins all over again.

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