Lake Weeds and Eggs



Dragonfly eggs on weeds



The lake is full of weeds today. I’m tempted to call it seaweed, but that’s obviously inappropriate. Lakeweed? If the honor of naming what is floating there had been mine, I would have called it mermaid’s tresses. Long, thin, feathery green and sometimes yellow streamers tangle together. I find a number of websites for lake/pond weed identification. I think what I see is called coontail. I like my name much better. Walking around the lake later I see posted signs informing that an herbicide has been applied to control the weeds—seems to have uprooted them. It says the stuff is safe for wildlife and humans. I certainly hope so.



There are fewer pieces of a broad-leafed weed also floating on the lake surface. And near the water’s edge there is something very curious. Groups of tiny yellow bubbles sit on top of the broad leaves. They look almost gelatinous. I stare at them for a while and decide they might be some kind of egg. Many tiny orange dragonflies hover over them so, when I get to the computer, I begin by looking up the life cycle of the dragonfly. Seems I guessed well. It is dragonfly mating season and the female typically lays her eggs on the water’s surface or on floating weeds. 

I almost wish I hadn’t looked up the dragonfly. The nymph stage is a very ugly bug that lives in the water for several years. I hate the thought that I’m swimming with them. Now I also recognize the ugly shells of bugs that are clinging to the sides of the dock. Amazing that the beautiful, graceful dragonfly emerges from so unattractive a case. Apparently the nymph or larva stage is a voracious consumer of mosquitoes. For this great service I suppose I can overlook its ugliness.





Dragonfly nymph in water- from http://www.dragonfly-site.com/dragonfly-life-cycle.html