Is it the calm before the swarm? Heavy rains likely to affect fish fly invasion
12:17 AM, Jun. 11, 2011
BY PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
They swarm. They invade. They mush on your windshield.
The annual invasion of fish flies is coming, and scientists say the storms and rains of spring are likely to affect the annual fish fly hatch -- but no one's sure exactly what that will mean.
Either the stormy spring will mean a late hatch and we'll see a record number when they all come out at once, or the weather churned up the water so much it will kill off much of the larvae while they're still in the water -- meaning we'll see fewer of the little buggers.
"It seems it could go either way," said Don Schloesser, fishery biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor. "It's going to take three or four days of relatively calm water, and these critters will come out."
They may be commonly called fish flies in this area, but they're really mayflies, Schloesser said -- classified within the genus hexagenia, if you want to get technical about it. At one time, they were called Canadian soldiers because a northeast wind would appear to send them marching in from Canada.
And while they can be found in many places, the relative shallowness of Lake St. Clair and western Lake Erie, coupled with currents that wash pollutants downstream, make southeast Michigan one of the great fish fly spots.
So what are all those fish flies doing when they're landing in your hair?
They're mating. They spend the first two years of their lives in the underwater sediment and only come to the surface when it's time to reproduce. They mate within the first 48 hours of coming up for air, lay their eggs, and that's pretty much it for a mayfly's life.
Whether it's going to be fish fly feast or famine this year, folks from Lake St. Clair to western Lake Erie are sure to view the annual rite with mixed emotions.
To some, they're pests that ought to be called dead-fish flies because that's what they smell like. They're a nuisance and travel in such thick swarms that they have to be hosed off windows and walkways. And it can be, well, just yucky to have to walk through clouds of them.
River Farrell remembers when she moved from Traverse City to Detroit's east side. She thought she had seen fish flies up north, but she hadn't seen anything like those in southeast Michigan.
They turned to mud under her windshield wipers. And one time they were so thick on her car, the sidewalk and the windows of a pizza shop she was headed to, she decided she wasn't hungry after all.
"I started to get out of my car and I couldn't," Farrell said. "It was a horrible experience."
On the other side are those who rejoice in the annual hatch because the flies are a sign of a healthy lake environment.
"As annoying as they are, don't hate them," Schloesser said. "They're a good indicator. People want to know their environment is better; that people spent all that money for good reason" in cleaning up the region's lakes and rivers.
So, annoyance or sign of a healthy lake, most folks around here just take them as one more phase of summer.
"First we have the twirly birds, then we have the white fuzzies, then we have the fish flies -- and they're all a pain in the you-know-what," said Mary Kaminski of New Baltimore.
Contact Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki: 586-826-7278 or [email protected]
12:17 AM, Jun. 11, 2011
BY PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
They swarm. They invade. They mush on your windshield.
The annual invasion of fish flies is coming, and scientists say the storms and rains of spring are likely to affect the annual fish fly hatch -- but no one's sure exactly what that will mean.
Either the stormy spring will mean a late hatch and we'll see a record number when they all come out at once, or the weather churned up the water so much it will kill off much of the larvae while they're still in the water -- meaning we'll see fewer of the little buggers.
"It seems it could go either way," said Don Schloesser, fishery biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor. "It's going to take three or four days of relatively calm water, and these critters will come out."
They may be commonly called fish flies in this area, but they're really mayflies, Schloesser said -- classified within the genus hexagenia, if you want to get technical about it. At one time, they were called Canadian soldiers because a northeast wind would appear to send them marching in from Canada.
And while they can be found in many places, the relative shallowness of Lake St. Clair and western Lake Erie, coupled with currents that wash pollutants downstream, make southeast Michigan one of the great fish fly spots.
So what are all those fish flies doing when they're landing in your hair?
They're mating. They spend the first two years of their lives in the underwater sediment and only come to the surface when it's time to reproduce. They mate within the first 48 hours of coming up for air, lay their eggs, and that's pretty much it for a mayfly's life.
Whether it's going to be fish fly feast or famine this year, folks from Lake St. Clair to western Lake Erie are sure to view the annual rite with mixed emotions.
To some, they're pests that ought to be called dead-fish flies because that's what they smell like. They're a nuisance and travel in such thick swarms that they have to be hosed off windows and walkways. And it can be, well, just yucky to have to walk through clouds of them.
River Farrell remembers when she moved from Traverse City to Detroit's east side. She thought she had seen fish flies up north, but she hadn't seen anything like those in southeast Michigan.
They turned to mud under her windshield wipers. And one time they were so thick on her car, the sidewalk and the windows of a pizza shop she was headed to, she decided she wasn't hungry after all.
"I started to get out of my car and I couldn't," Farrell said. "It was a horrible experience."
On the other side are those who rejoice in the annual hatch because the flies are a sign of a healthy lake environment.
"As annoying as they are, don't hate them," Schloesser said. "They're a good indicator. People want to know their environment is better; that people spent all that money for good reason" in cleaning up the region's lakes and rivers.
So, annoyance or sign of a healthy lake, most folks around here just take them as one more phase of summer.
"First we have the twirly birds, then we have the white fuzzies, then we have the fish flies -- and they're all a pain in the you-know-what," said Mary Kaminski of New Baltimore.
Contact Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki: 586-826-7278 or [email protected]