Izaak Walton League of America

You just met five common macroinvertebrates. Did you learn to recognize them? Take this quiz and find out if you're a Macro Master.

1. A little clump of gravel, twigs, sand, or leaf pieces is likely to be hiding a ______________.

Caddisfly
Mayfly
Scud

 

2. When you see something shaped like a __________, you know you've found a black fly.

Comma
Horseshoe
Bowling pin

 

3. How do scuds move?

They swim on their back.
They swim on their side.
They crawl on the bottom.

 

4. Why do you need to watch crane fly larvae carefully?

They tend to crawl away.
They can sting you.
You might see them perform a rare and fascinating behavior.

 

5. Where are a mayfly's gills?

On its face
On the sides of its abdomen
On its tails

 

If you got four or more answers correct on the first try, you're well on your way to learning how to do macroinvertebrate monitoring. Macroinvertebrate monitoring is a way of collecting macros from a stream, identifying what you found, and then using your observations to estimate how clean the stream is. It's a fun and powerful way to understand water quality in your community.