Anyone who spends any time around creeks, streams or rivers has seen the water strider, a predatory insect that resembles a spider. It has a light body weight that is dispersed into its long legs, which allows it to glide smoothly across the surface of the water. Water striders sometimes jump, sometimes fly, but usually skim across the water.

Water striders eat small insects and other aquatic life forms. I once saw a water strider eating a tadpole.

These water striders were in the act of mating, I presume. I shot them along a watershed to the Scioto River in Central Ohio.

Water Strider Information

• The Water Strider by Jesse C
• Water and its structure