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Mayfly Gills Adaptation

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Adaption 1
Tracheae: an insects tracheae is a complex network of tubes that delivers oxygen-containing air to every cell of the body
Cuticle: in particular an outer layer of living tissue
Mayfly nymph adaptation
An adaptation that mayfly nymphs need most to survive in the water is having gills. On a mayfly nymph there are four to nine pairs of gills that are located on each side of their abdomen. These gills are leaf-like in shape and constantly keep moving back and forward. This beating motion increases the amount of water that goes through the nymphs gills. The gills create currents of water that bring in a fresh oxygen supply. It is important for mayfly nymphs to have these types of gills because in water there is less than one percent of oxygen and the oxygen that there is barely moves. This means if a mayfly nymph stays still in the same place in the water without their gills, not much oxygen will get to it and slowly it will die. Instead of moving itself through the water to get oxygen mayfly nymphs (gills specifically) moves water through itself. …show more content…

This even 's out the amount of water that runs through their body in different habitats.
A mayfly nymph has what you call tracheae gills, which are gills that attach to your tracheae. After air diffuses through the gills, the oxygen moves into the tracheae. From here the tracheae transports it into smaller branches and these branches lead to every part of the body. The gills, being covered by a thin layer of cuticle only let air and carbon dioxide to the tracheae.
Additionally, these gills can also be used to mislead predators. If the gills send out water in one direction, the nymph would be easy to track. Therefor the gills wave out water in all different directions of their body so a predator doesn 't know exactly were the mayfly nymph

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