they look rather like a woodlouse, but they live underwater in my pond.

Mark

Sounds like:
(and probably came in on a plant)

Water louse

The water louse, or water slater, has a flattened body and looks similar to
their close relation, the terrestrial woodlouse. They are bottom dwellers,
crawling through and feeding on the detritus and debris that collects there.
The parallels with the woodlouse are strong as it favours the dead leaves that
gather in stagnant or slow-moving water. They are up to 15mm long,
greyish-brown in colour and are unable to swim freely. The male is much larger
and often carries the female about clasped to his front. The body is made up of
seven distinct segments, each with a fairly unspecialised pair of appendages,
although the front pair are more adapted for grasping. They are undoubtedly
primitive creatures but play an important role in the bog pool ecosystem as a
food source for the many predators that live there.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Thanks Kathy, that's most interesting.

Do you know whether fish will eat them, as I never seem to need to feed my
two or three small fish. When I put food in the pond, they usually ignore
it, so I assume they're getting something more tasty from the pond.

Mark


"Ka30P" wrote in message
...
Sounds like:
(and probably came in on a plant)

Water louse

The water louse, or water slater, has a flattened body and looks similar
to
their close relation, the terrestrial woodlouse. They are bottom dwellers,
crawling through and feeding on the detritus and debris that collects
there.
The parallels with the woodlouse are strong as it favours the dead leaves
that
gather in stagnant or slow-moving water. They are up to 15mm long,
greyish-brown in colour and are unable to swim freely. The male is much
larger
and often carries the female about clasped to his front. The body is made
up of
seven distinct segments, each with a fairly unspecialised pair of
appendages,
although the front pair are more adapted for grasping. They are
undoubtedly
primitive creatures but play an important role in the bog pool ecosystem
as a
food source for the many predators that live there.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Mark wrote Do you know whether fish will eat them

Not sure. But most aquatic insects are fish food too. In a well planted pond,
few fish and mature fish don't have to be fed.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

EROSPAM (Ka30P) wrote in message ...
Sounds like:
(and probably came in on a plant)

Water louse

The water louse, or water slater, has a flattened body and looks similar to
their close relation, the terrestrial woodlouse.

That sounds very much like 'Gammarus' (sp?) there's a few critters in
a pond like this, some quite shrimp like.... definitely a favourite
food for bigger critters like fish, and turtles. In a heavily planted
pond these little crustaceans get to thrive on scavenging what they
can and themselves become a decent source of tid bits for others

Regards, andy
http://www.members.aol.com/abdavisnc/swglist.html