|
|
|
Avoiding Dirt Bike Accidents
Is there any way I can avoid dirt bike accidents?
The quick answer to this questions is no, you will inevitably have a dirt bike accident during your time as a dirt bike racer. It's simply a matter of time, however you...
Causes of Stress
Copyright 2005 Trevor Dumbleton
In order to eliminate or at least control stress, it is vital to know and understand the causes of stress. Of course, there are many causes of stress and they are as varied as the people who suffer from stress, but...
Exercise Your Way to Health with Ayurveda
Ayurvedic healers recommend exercise on a daily basis for good health and longevity. The ayurvedic approach to exercise focuses not only on the physical benefits exercise imparts, but also on its positive influence on mind, heart, senses and spirit...
Here’s how to find a discount airline ticket!
Did it ever occur to you that finding a discount airline ticket and cheap airfares have very little to do with the airline's cost of doing business? And that airlines price their seats on perceptions of what the public is willing to pay so that...
Purpose Driven Golf
I want you to meditate on a couple points for a moment: 1. Why an earth are you playing golf? 2. What are you getting out of each round? 3. What is the point? Have you ever thought about any of these points before?? Here is an excerpt from "The...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
It's an Alien World in Every River
When you look at a river, what do you see? A few flies on top? A fish or two?
Look closer.
Lay down on your chest at the side of the river and stare down into it. Look at a rock or a stick. Not very interesting? Keep looking.
Soon, you begin to notice things that don't seem to belong. Sticks don't come with little tubes of sand attached. What's that black bump? Oh, it's moving. It's... grazing? Every stream holds a tiny alien world, packed with creatures unlike anything we see on land.
Clinging mayfly and stonefly nymphs graze like tiny cattle on the algae and microscopic animals that cover every twig and rock. Sinister damselfly nymphs hunt them with a creepy, deliberate stalking posture reminiscent of both a prowling cheetah and killer robots from the future in some cheap sci-fi flick.
Caddisfly larvae build intricate houses of tiny stones and debris, which the tiny carpenters drag around with them like a shell. Colonies of them gather on various twigs and rocks, little housing subdivisions in a tiny underwater town.
Swimming mayfly nymphs, some of them shaped much like the slimy villain in the Alien movies, dart from place to place with the deftness of little minnows and take up station to catch food drifting by in the current. And below the ground, burrowing mayfly nymphs dig lairs with their powerful tusks from which they emerge only at night to prowl for food. All hope to avoid the gaping jaws of a big, ugly,
prowling dragonfly nymph.
Until now, it was hard to observe this underwater world without getting very cold and very wet. But a new website, Troutnut.com, has brought detailed photographs and videos of this intriguing world and its residents to the comfort of your computer desk.
The website was sparked by the sport of fly fishing, in which trout anglers craft realistic imitations of tiny stream creatures from an intimidating mess of fur and feathers, and present their imitations delicately, even artistically. For them, better pictures of the real thing mean better imitations and more trout. But Troutnut.com's quest for more and bigger trout has led to a glimpse at this alien world that anyone can enjoy.
So next time you're walking past a stream, stop to take a closer look. Or head over right now to http://www.troutnut.com. Either way, you'll be amazed.
About The Author
Jason Neuswanger is a Cornell University undergraduate student working toward a degree in math and, hopefully, a graduate degree in quantitative fisheries science. He is an avid fly fisherman and web designer whose latest creation is Troutnut.com.
jrn7@cornell.edu
|
|
|
|
|
|