Spring fever in the form of a stonefly!

I've told myself I'll attempt to dip at least a finger in the Allegheny every day I live next to it. Before making my walk down to the river Sunday morning my husband came through the door full of excitement and announced that winter stoneflies are in full swing. As a fisherman, this sort of thing is second nature and of no big surprise to him, not to take away from his enthusiasm, of course. To me, though, this is an amazing event that I'm excited to share...

We (my husband, three kiddos ages five, six and nine, and myself) were quick to throw on our snow pants and boots and rush out the door to check out our latest river action. Yep, you guessed it... we've got spring fever pretty bad! All summer long we see critters of all shapes and sizes along the river on a daily basis, but spring makes us really appreciate the Allegheny River more than ever.

Stone flies are quick little buggers - on a mission as they scurry across the snow faster than my digital camera can focus in on their tiny little bodies (under 15mm). A slight wind swoops them away faster than you can bat an eye. Luckily we found one that was dormant, having just shed it's skin to become an adult. After snapping numerous pictures, we decided to do some research to figure out just how these little critters can hatch and survive in such harsh conditions, and what exactly it means that they are prevalent along the Allegheny River year round.

Here's what we found:

Nymphs climb out of the water and shed their skins to become adults. This is usually in late winter. The adults live just long enough to mate and lay their eggs. The nymphs hatch shortly and feed for a while before going into diapause (a hibernation-like state) from mid-spring until fall. Their main period of growth and activity is fall and winter.

The defining need of winter stonefly nymphs is for very high levels of oxygen in the water. Warm temperatures, excessive organic matter, and many pollutants all reduce oxygen levels. The result: they're only active in the coldest part of the year and are very sensitive to pollution.

Their main interest to humans is as an indicator species: you can tell that water is unpolluted if stoneflies live there. They also provide food for trout - though not as much as species active when trout are themselves more active in warmer parts of the year.

All in all, it was a super fun adventure... the kids all tracking down and following stoneflies in every direction to see where they might nest to shed their skins. At one point while walking through the path we'd made through about a foot of snow across the lawn, my six year old exclaimed, "be careful... share the road with the stoneflies... don't smoosh them!" We did finally capture a stonefly shed it's skin on tape. Please check it out on YouTube here.

Ahhh... what a life along the Allegheny River.