Adult feathery midges finally emerge, dry their wings and fly off to resume the cycle of life. Slowly ascending from the bottom on a bubble of gas tucked under their bellies, squadrons of pupa pop to the surface, wiggle to break through the film and then split their external cases. Many, in fact, are dark green, olive and various shades of brown.Īs the larva mature over the winter and following spring, they eventually lock themselves up inside their now sealed off cocoon-like homes, mutate into pupae, grow even plumper, and then chew their way out of their high-rise apartments.

That colour comes from living in an oxygen-deficient habit, where the worms are forced to store oxygen in their blood. Many of the worms are crimson in color (hence the bloodworm moniker).

The larvae subsequently make their homes in tiny tubes they construct on the bottom – using muck, mud and mucous – that stick up like millions of miniature smoke stacks. The miniscule seeds sink to the bottom, and within a couple of weeks hatch into billions of worm-like larvae with distinguishable body segments. The life cycle begins when swarms of adult mosquito-like midges mate in mid-air and the ripe females skim across the surface of the lake, dipping their abdomens into the water, depositing their eggs. Indeed, there are so many varieties of chironomids that you can find at least one or more members in just about every waterbody. And while bloodworms fare well at the lake bottom interface where oxygen levels are sometimes reduced, anoxic conditions are not a prerequisite.

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