Little Known Sealife (not humor)

[Owly055]

     As a child, I was fascinated by water striders (gerridae family).  Fascinating insects who used micro hairs on their legs to trap air and operate on the surface of standing and not standing water, walking on water like Jesus.   Quick and capable, they are very efficient predators.  Their young are born with or without wings depending on the environment in which they live, though they may be the same one of the many species.   Most of us are not even aware that they can fly, and of course they can't if born without wings.   Their sex live is an interesting story in itself, but you can read about that elsewhere.   
    What I never knew, and I suspect few people do, is that there is a genus of water strider Halobates that lives far out in the open ocean, surviving in all the same conditions in which people must when voyaging, waves, storms, etc, and thriving, often never coming anywhere near land.  This group comprises only about 5 species of 40 Halobates species.   Amazing creatures we seldom notice.  We look for whales, porpoises, and numerous species of birds, fish, etc.   Who among us is on the lookout for ocean insects like Halobates?

                                                                                             H.W.

[CapnK]

One of the circumnavigators I have read remarked on seeing insects in the middle of the ocean. That there is *something* living out there makes sense, if you think about it - Life is ever the opportunist, after all.

And living on the middle of the sea must be infinitely easier than down in the black depths of a rift vent, squeezed at 2000psi on the fine line of 'survivable' that must exist between, say, a hot acid volcano and the water all around it which hovers just above "ice cube" in temperature... ;)

[Owly055]

One of the circumnavigators I have read remarked on seeing insects in the middle of the ocean. That there is *something* living out there makes sense, if you think about it - Life is ever the opportunist, after all.

And living on the middle of the sea must be infinitely easier than down in the black depths of a rift vent, squeezed at 2000psi on the fine line of 'survivable' that must exist between, say, a hot acid volcano and the water all around it which hovers just above "ice cube" in temperature... ;)

     If you've ever been on the ocean or seen the ocean in a storm.......... and I'm quite sure that you have, the idea of this tiny frail insect surviving in those conditions is rather amazing.   They CANNOT SURVIVE UNDER WATER.... they will drown quickly, and they have no wings to fly away.   

                                                                  H.W.