Frogspawn being eten by a shrimp like insect

[moggy]

in our pond there has been a lot of frogspawn but all of a sudden there has been an insect that have been burrowing its way into the frogspan and eating the eggs, cant quite tell what insect this is but it looks almost like a shrimp, thought it could be dragonfly lavae but they are a bit small to see. Any help?
could you also tell me why are some of the eggs turning white?

[Jim Ford]

I wonder if it's Dikerogammarus villosus - there's a thread about it:

Dikerogammarus villosus, the "killer” shrimp coming to a water body near you

also here:

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/non...index.cfm?id=3

If it is the 'killer shrimp' you probably ought to report it.

Jim

[triops]

It's impossible to identify your creature without a photograph or a good description.

[toadpole]

Hi Moggy some of your frogspawn eggs have turned white because they have not been fertilized by the male ...I see it most years with mine so nothing to worry about.... Marion

[healfdan]

What Marion says is correct but occasionally you find all the eggs cloud over and this is as a result of infection, pollution or highly acidic pond water. The creature you referred to could be the commonly named Freshwater shrimp Gammarus pulex or even a Water louse Asellus sp. These small pond invertebrates are attracted to decomposing materials.

[moggy]

Originally Posted by healfdan

What Marion says is correct but occasionally you find all the eggs cloud over and this is as a result of infection, pollution or highly acidic pond water. The creature you referred to could be the commonly named Freshwater shrimp Gammarus pulex or even a Water louse Asellus sp. These small pond invertebrates are attracted to decomposing materials.

thank you turns out that it is a Water louse Asellus sp thank you for your help =]

[moggy]

thank you everyone for your help

[toadpole]

i have quite a lot of those waterlouse ..lice ?? too and they are very interesting to watch ...last yr when i fed my tads floating fish pellets they would often find one trapped in the weed and you could see the pellet trapped in their little legs as they carried it off ...the water boatmen did it too was amazing to watch ...am looking forward to seeing all the creatures activate as the weather warms up .....Marion

[Red Robin]

I've already started a thread about it in the WAB Water Life forum:

Water Snail and Frogspawn....

I've been observing my imported (don't ask!) frogspawn on a daily basis and apart from the Great Water Snail I have now seen Damselfly nymphs and Water Hog-lice on the spawn. However, the tadpoles are growing and beginning to emerge.



So far, my thoughts are that these other critters are either eating algae on the spawn jelly or a small amount of jelly, but they're not eating the embryo tadpoles.

[toadpole]

yes i think they must be feeding off the algae etc that is surrounding the spawn ,as i have seen my snails all over it feeding off something tasty and the tads are developing nicely so it seems they are not being harmed in any way ....its when they leave it they are gonna have problems the numbers of newts waiting patiently and tapping their feet ...claws ..fingers ??? are growing every day marion