Beetles that breathe through their backsides

If you find a good spot to sit, next to one of the area’s small ponds or dams, eventually you will see something strange – a compact, streamlined beetle, that with quick strokes, rushes up to the surface, turns its bottom in the air, and starts blowing bubbles with its backside. This is a diving beetle, and it comes in many different sizes, from just a few millimetres to several centimetres in length, and it is, quite simply, just breathing. Diving beetles don’t have gills or snorkels, so they have to swim to the surface to get some air. They inhale the air, so it forms a bubble under each wing, similar to a diver’s oxygen tank, giving them a bit more time to hunt under the water. They ‘bubble’ when they exchange the old, used air for fresh air.

All the different species of diving beetles are predators. Depending on the species, their prey can be anything from tiny aquatic insects and flea-like crustaceans to small fish and tadpoles.