For the past three months I have been carrying out monthly riverfly surveys on behalf of the Kelvin Angling Association and in conjunction with Clyde River Foundation's CRIMP programme. I also had my 5 minutes of fame being featured in one of the CRF's blog posts!
Last month's kick sample turned up a couple of surprises which I thought I'd share!
The first was a stone loach (Barbatula barbatula) who found his way into the net. These guys are bottomfeeders in clean rivers (a good sign for the Allander!) and use their distinctive barbels that can be seen near the mouth to detect food. He's probably been snacking on some of the riverfly larvae I'm looking for.
The next surprise was in the form of a member of the leech family Hirudinae which I think is Glossosiphonia complanata. It has 6 tiny light detecting eyespots at the pointed end and feed of freshwater snails and midge larvae - a good thing for us ;) It has a sucker at the front and rear of the body and can hold onto the substrate with a fantastically strong grip, as I found out when I tried to wash him out of the tray back into the river, he just wouldn't budge.
This brown mass consists of 43 Gammarus, or freshwater amphipod, these are indicators of clean oxygen rich water. They're very nippy in the water too, tricky to catch as they are so fast.
These are flat bodied upwing members of the Heptageniidae family of mayflies (approximately 30 individuals shown here). Their flattened shape helps them cling to rocks and avoid being washed downstream as they are not great swimmers. These guys are also good indicators of water quality, they can tolerate a little pollution but need oxygen rich water to survive.
I'll be carrying out October's survey soon so stayed tuned to see if I find anything interesting :)
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