4 ms·
It is certainly true that mosquitoes need still water to breed, their larvae being aquatic. Depending on the species, this can be anything from a pond to a tin
by jbotz 4y ago
It is certainly true that mosquitoes need still water to breed, their larvae being aquatic. Depending on the species, this can be anything from a pond to a tiny puddle or even a thimble-full of water in a bromeliad. The main requirement is that the water remain for about 5-7 days, the time it takes for the larvae to go from egg to mosquito, so in places where the water from a rainfall dries up faster than that you aren't going to get a lot of mosquitos. If there's no still water, some mosquitos will lay their eggs in (slowly) running water as well, but few of the larvae are likely to survive as running water is likely to have plenty of other life in it and pretty much everything else that moves in water loves to eat mosquito larvae.
In order to keep the window of time that their larvae need to develop a small as possible, the females try to give their offspring a head start in the form of highly concentrated protein... the source for which is your blood! The only time they bite is when they're "pregnant" with eggs (so only the females), otherwise adult mosquitos feed mostly on nectar.
- Yajirobe 4y ago> running water is likely to have plenty of other life in it And still water isn't?
- 411111111111111 4y agoHe's taking about animal life, not bacterial. In Rivers there are likely fishes etc, that's not the case with still water, as it often goes bad really quickly unless there is a filter installed, which usually also introduces some oxygen into the water etc. Another reason why Mosquitos usually only use still water is that the surface tension is necessary for them to inject their eggs, and moving water doesn't support their weight
- april_22 4y agoDo you know if there are some rules to how fast the water should be? I know in siberia there are some rivers with suuuper slow speed, you almost can't see that it moves. I know that there are myriads of mosquitos too. Would be interesting to know if there's a connection to water speed and the amount of mosquitos breeding.
- jbotz 4y agoSignificantly less macroscopic life. If it's a very small body it is likely to dry up eventually, so that rules out long-lived fully aquatic lifeforms. Even predatory insect larvae (for example, dragonfly larvae) have a much longer development cycle than mosquito larvae, so you won't find them in a body of water that will only be around for a few weeks. The other factor is oxygen... even a still pond that exists year around will have much lower oxygen levels than moving water, and that's a significant limiting factor for aquatic life. Mosquito larvae are air-breathers (they rest just under the surface and have a "snorkel" that breaks the surface to breathe) so they can live in almost completely hypoxic water so long as there is microbial life for them to eat.
- WithinReason 4y agoNo, a small puddle is not going to have fish in it that eat mosquito larvae