Weird Inverts Collected

[jb12288]

Olive nerite?

I collected all of these inverts today while my father and I were collection fish and plants. I have non clue what they are, I just know they are strange.

 

[Night61]

they are very weird looking, i have no idea what they are.

 

[three-fingers]

Pictures arent very clear, first one kinda looks like some sort of fly larvae in a casing made of plant matter, second one is a snail obviously, 100% not a nerite though, next up seems to a small gammarus-like crustacean and I cant really make anything out in the last pic other than the sand a little black bit of detritus.

To ID them accurately, your best bet is finding a pond-life book relevant to your area .

 

[jb12288]

The last one is in a shell; I picked it up with tweezers and it was hard like a snail shell. It kept poking its head in and out of the shell. It moves strangely by bobbing its shell back and forth and using its legs to move forward.

 

[three-fingers]

Then it's more insect larvae .

 

[jb12288]

In a hard shell?

 

[three-fingers]

Yep.

 

[jb12288]

Well I feel like an idiot.

 

[loraxchick]

caddisflies and stoneflies make homes out of debris like in the first pics. i would guess that is what you have there (couldnt positively ID without different angles/more pictures.).
they are interesting little larvae and actually are great bio indicators for water quality. usually only found in very clean water as they are very sensitive to toxins (various pleaces use these guys to test water samples for toxins like heavy metals, etc.---called bio assay.
did you get them from a stream or pond/lake, as they also usually require lots of O2 in the water.
have fun

 

[three-fingers]

Well I feel like an idiot.

How so?

There seems to be insect larvae that make little houses of about any kind of debris, some of them are just very good at it and the shell appears solid.

You should be able to find out what exact species it is from what their casing is made of.

I can't really identify US species though, look up the order Trichoptera (caddisfly larvae) .

 

[loraxchick]

like i said, id have to see them better (like handle them)...i used to id these things for a living to determine pollution levels and created models of point-source pollution.
and you are correct that it is possible to tell TYPE of larvae from the castings, not necessarily species. it helps to know what type of water they were found in-slow and stagnant, fast and flowing.etc, and goegraphical area to better narrow it down. to be very general, IMO, it's either a stonefly or a caddisfly larvae. both very cool little critters.

 

[jb12288]

like i said, id have to see them better (like handle them)...i used to id these things for a living to determine pollution levels and created models of point-source pollution.
and you are correct that it is possible to tell TYPE of larvae from the castings, not necessarily species. it helps to know what type of water they were found in-slow and stagnant, fast and flowing.etc, and goegraphical area to better narrow it down. to be very general, IMO, it's either a stonefly or a caddisfly larvae. both very cool little critters.

They were taken out of a fast flowing stream with a temp of about 74 degrees Fahrenheit. The stream/creek seemed very aerated and full of plant life. I live in Rome, Ga., which is in the north western area of Georgia and southern part of the United States. The water was extremely clear with a stoney bottom in the middle and sandy/muddy towards the edges with lots of plant life and few fishes. It is good to know they are an indicator of good water quality since I do live in a town with a nuclear power plant 10 miles away.

If the snails aren't nerites then what are they? When I had olives they had the exact coloration and texture. The body shape is a bit different, as the end is more pointed.

 

[three-fingers]

If the snails aren't nerites then what are they? When I had olives they had the exact coloration and texture. The body shape is a bit different, as the end is more pointed.

Try this site: [URL="http/www.cofc.edu/~fwgna/FWGGA/index.html"]http/www.cofc.edu/~fwgna/FWGGA/index.html[/URL].

 

[dizzied]

Certainly not an Olive Nerite...
perhaps a Pleuocera of some sort?