News

Actions

Mayflies swarm Great Lakes freighter as they begin showing up in metro Detroit

ship mayflies.jpg
Posted
and last updated

It's officially Mayfly season. A photo posted by the Interlake Steamship Company shows mayflies swarming a freighter in Toledo.

It happened on the M/V Hon. James L. Oberstar in Toledo, according to the post.

Mayflies have a brief adult life, according to Michigan State University, but will lay 4,000 to 8,000 eggs on the water's surface. those eggs drop to the bottom of the water where they hatch into larvae called naiads.

MSU said the naiads will live underwater for a year or two, and then become wingless in their final immature life stage called subimago. Those subimagos fly toward the shore and within 24 hours, morph into an adult.

Mayfly hatches occur in June or July, but mayflies only thrive in lakes and rivers with good water quality, meaning seeing them is a good thing.

356072837_655367716619289_8490726058253020051_n.jpeg
356215822_655367669952627_1669436758842810298_n.jpeg
353032181_655367643285963_4970417336555119106_n.jpeg
353389177_655367633285964_319890437905788656_n.jpeg