- [Teacher] If you can hear me clap once, if you can.

(calm music) - What is in the water?

- [Student] Fish.

- There are fish in the water, but you know what else?

There's something else.

- [Narrator] Who lives in cold Wyoming streams, and what can they tell us about the health of our waterways?

(upbeat music) Macroinvertebrates on this episode of nature Wy.

- [Student 2] There's a three tailed one, you have a three tailed one.

- [Student 3] We got a may fly.

- [Narrator] Humans are vertebrates, we have backbones.

This girl is a vertebrate, fish are vertebrates too.

They have a backbone, but there are also creatures that have no backbones.

We call these invertebrates and some need to be in water to survive.

Invertebrates don't have spines made of bone, like we do.

Some are really squishy, like jellyfish or an octopus.

Others like insects have exoskeletons, a hard outer shell that their muscles attach to as if they were wearing skeletons on the outside of their bodies.

For this episode, let's explore aquatic macroinvertebrates.

- Aquatic means that this creature lives in the water.

Macro.

- [Students] Macro.

- I can see it with my eyes.

Invertebrates.

- [Students] Invertebrates.

- Means I have no backbone.

- [Students] No backbone.

- So let's do that again.

Aquatic.

- [Students] Aquatic.

- Macro.

- [Students] Macro.

- Invertebrates.

- [Students] Invertebrates.

- [Narrator] In the fast cool streams of Wyoming, you have a good chance of finding aquatic macroinvertebrates.

Did you know that young dragon flies can live in slow moving water for years as aquatic macroinvertebrates, before shedding their exoskeletons and emerging as adults with wings.

Mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies do the same.

Just like dragonflies, all three creatures live in the water as kids, eventually emerging as adults with wings.

- Mayflies have three tails.

Mayfly M, mayfly three tails, mayfly makes an M and they have gills.

They have to breathe under water.

They have gills on their abdomen.

So guess how they move?

You're gonna move like a mayfly.

We call it the mayfly mambo.

It's a little movement that they do so that they can get air from the water.

So watch this.

You're gonna do this with me.

Mayfly mambo, I'm gonna move the water to my gills.

- [Narrator] Can you see the gills fluttering along the abdomen of this juvenile mayfly?

They live most of their lives underwater as kids, and only a matter of days as an adult.

Another aquatic macroinvertebrate that you can commonly find in Wyoming is a stonefly.

Stoneflies are shredders, not of snow on the ski slopes of course, but of leaves that they eat in the stream and rivers - Hold up a two, stoneflies have two tails, stoneflies have two tails.

So if you see something with two tails and not three you found a stonefly.

A stonefly has its gills on its thorax.

It kind of is like it's in its armpits.

Isn't that silly?

So we're gonna do something called the stonefly shuffle.

Here's what it looks like.

You put your arms up like this, the stonefly shuffle.

I'm gonna move the water on my gills, under my arms.

Stonefly shuffle, mayfly mambo, stonefly shuffle, mayfly mambo.

One more.

Here's the third critter I hope we find it's called a caddisfly nymph.

It takes the materials around it and it builds a case.

- [Narrator] Caddisfly nymphs make a casing around their body.

You can think of it like armor, or a shield, to protect themselves.

They make the casing out of things that they find in their environment.

If we imagine that a caddisfly lived in your house it might make its casing out of things that they find in your couch.

But we know a caddisfly is an aquatic macroinvertebrate.

So it makes its casing out of little pebbles or tiny sticks.

- So we call this the caddisfly cuddle, ready?

Caddisfly cuddle.

Okay.

So those are the three critters I wanna try to find.

You know why?

If you find those three critters, that means that this water is the four C's.

Clean, clear, cold, and connected.

That means it's moving into other streams and rivers.

Cool, huh?

(classical music) We're gonna look for a aquatic macroinvertebrates.

Do you see him in there?

- [Student 4] Yeah, there's many, there's like thousands.

- [Teacher] You go water shoes?

- [Kid In Green Shorts] It's so cold!

- [Teacher] You've got water shoes.

Look at these tough kiddos we have, these tough scientists.

- [Student 2] We got something.

- [Student 3] I've got a ton in this cube.

- [Teacher] You sure do.

You're finding some really great ones.

- [Student 3] I'm gonna' go look for more.

- [Students] We found a mayfly.

Whoa!

It's a stonefly.

(students laugh and chat) - [Narrator] Aquatic macroinvertebrates found in fast moving streams have to hold on.

They cling to rocks, or plants, or dig into the gravel, or sand at the bottom of a stream.

With sharp eyes, careful hands, and a few things out of the recycling bin, you can collect mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies.

You can create your own net or simply switch a rock from the bottom of a stream into a container filled with cool stream water.

See anything wiggling?

For instructions on how to do these activities at home visit wyomingpbs.org/naturewy.

From science kids and us at Wyoming PBS, we invite you outside to safely explore a cool Wyoming stream near you and discover your own aquatic macroinvertebrates.

Thanks for watching.

(upbeat music)