Water Striders

water insects · surface tension · bugs

Skating on water. Water striders can walk on top of ponds, rivers, and lakes without sinking because of tiny hairs on their feet that trap air and special body oils that repel water. It's like they're wearing invisible ice skates.

True piercing bugs. Water striders are true bugs (not just any insect), and they have special pointed mouths made for stabbing and sucking up tiny creatures and plant juice from the water. Their mouthparts work like tiny drinking straws.

Found almost everywhere. You can find water striders on almost every pond, river, or lake in the world, and scientists have named over 1,700 different species of them. About 1 out of every 10 species even lives in salty ocean water.

Surface living animals. Water striders spend their whole lives on top of the water's surface, never diving deep like other water bugs do. They are pleuston, which means they're water-surface specialists.

Long spindly legs. These bugs have four very long, thin back legs that spread out wide to distribute their weight across the water surface, kind of like snowshoes that help them not break through.