MAYFLY FACTS

They are known by several names - Junebug, Mayfly, Canadian Soldier, Fish Fly... and a few others that I will not print here due to... well... this is a family show, folks. Their official scientific name is 'Hexagenia'.

There has been some confusion with some fine people from New York thinking we were referring to their 'june bug' which, best as we can understand from their descriptions, is a type of beetle. I will call them mayflies here as that name does not seem to be taken and mayflies are nothing like a beetle.

Cleveland's own Fox photojournalist Ali Ghanbari offered to let me link to this video segment he shot on the mayflies. If you've never seen the mayfly invasion in person, this give you a very good idea of what it looks like.

This video was shot on Kelly's Island, a beautiful island north of Sandusky, Ohio and just east of South Bass Island (Put-in-Bay). Kelley's Island offers some of Lake Erie's finest natural highlights. In addition to the Indian Rock and the butterfly house, the Glacial Grooves are worth the trip, alone.

But Kelley's is also host to mayflies and as Ali Ghanbari finds out, not all the residents welcome our wonderful little guests!

The return of the friendly mayfly is attributed to Lake Erie being its cleanest in years. Part of this may very well be due to the arrival of the Zebra Mussels from Europe. The zebra mussel was brought to Lake Erie in ballast water dumped from ocean freighters. These minature clam looking things have raised havok in every possible way on anything related to the lake. The one positive thing they have done is clean up the water.

My mother could remember being a little girl growing up in Sandusky, Ohio in the 1930's (before the days of great pollution) and watching the mayflies swarm into town. Cars would slide on the piles of mayflies in the street and cause accidents. From what I have read and heard from the old timers, we are not at the point it was before Lake Erie was polluted, but, if mayfly populations keep improving, I believe we'll get to that point again. Port Clinton now posts signs at several entrances to the city warning of slippery road conditions due to the mayfly hatch.

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Mayfly bodies measure about one inch long and tails range from 1/2 to 3 inches in length. Color and size vary, but there appears to this reporter to be two main types, or species, of mayflies in this area. The larger variety have thicker bodies with a yellowish golden color. They normally have shorter tails (sometimes forked in a V shape) but the tail may be longer after they shed.

The other variety have smaller, very dark, bodies and longer tails.

This photo shows a side by side comparison of a golden variety (foreground) and the smaller longtail. Mayflies are always more than happy to pose for photos.

On the evening of June 22nd last year, the sun had set and mayflies filled the skies around Port Clinton. I attempted to capture them on camera. These pics give you a fairly good idea what it looked like. Just click on the pics at left. The pics will open in a separate browser or tab. Simply close the browser when you're done looking to return here.

Every black speck you see against the blue sky is a mayfly in flight.

As many pictures as I have of mayflies on this site, there still seems to be some confusion between mayflies and muffleheads. I don't quite understand how, but hey, not everyone's into bugs. I will try to clear that up right now so watch and listen up, folks!

Muffleheads usually show up one to two weeks before the mayflies and are alot smaller than mayflies. They are slightly larger than mosquitos but will not bite you. They also have fuzzy little antennae.

These great photos were submitted by Gwen DeBoard of Columbus, Ohio. The first one is a closeup shot of muffleheads. She took them in Geneva, Ohio at the Geneva State Park Beach by the restroom walkway on June 6th, 2009.

"I was on that Beach until the sun went down, I didn't see one Mayfly, but we did see thousands of muffleheads..... I looked up in the sky and saw & heard swarms. It was amazing!  And the sound was incredible!  Loud humming like bees."

It's hard to believe because they're so small, but I supposed if you get that many mufflehead all flying at once, they're bound to make some kind of noise.

Now, if you'll notice, folks, there's no wings sticking up and no long tail. Yes, they can swarm like mayflies but you won't have them hanging around smelling like dead fish all over the place. They are a lot less of a nusiance than the mayflies.

That is about it. Do we know the difference now? Good... class dismissed!!  And thanks for your help, Gwen!