It's a bug eat fish world.

Dragonfly Larvae Eating a Minnow

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That's nothing. In Minnesota, I hear the mosquito larvae are big enough to eat small dogs.

are you sure the "victim" isn't a tadpole? looks more tadpole than minnow to me...

looks like a tadpole to me too...

Tadpoles do not have gill plates. That is a fish.

What is probably incorrect is to say that it is a minnow. It is a fry or young something, not necessarily a minnow. And, it is not "bug" eats "fish" ... the dragon fly is not a bug.

I don't think it has gill plates. I think we are just seeing that the head has bony support and the body behind does not. If it is a fish, I have not seen its like before. Notice that it does not have pectoral nor pelvic fins. No, it is not a larval lamprey.

By Jim Thomerson (not verified) on 04 Oct 2009 #permalink

Greg, in some frog species the immature tadpoles ("hatchlings" being the correct term to use here...) do have transitional finger-like gills after they hatch as in this woodfrog. Wood frogs also have rather large gill slits relative to the size of their heads, so confusing them with other types of non-amphibian hatchlings isn't that uncommon unless you're somewhat familiar with them.

Sweet vid! Agree with others that that's a tadpole. And to be technical, it's a dragonfly nymph (or sometimes, naiad, to emphasize its aquatic stage), not a larva... :-)

the dragon fly is not a bug.

Is it a feature then?

Well, a tadpole is technically a fish until it transmogrifies into a frog.