We would catch them in the river by my summer camp as a kid. They were so creepy yet fascinating, we put about 6 of them together in a very large fish tank with a bunch of rocks for them to hide under. 2 days later there was only two left and the two remaining were missing legs and injured. They had killed the smaller ones and then went to separate rocks on opposite sides of the tank to avoid each other.

Hellgrammites are absolutely fascinating, some of my favorite macroinvertebrates to come across when out exploring creeks. You got some planet earth level shots here, but that’s to be expected with your level of production quality. Great overview of a really cool species, nice work! - Harrison and Evan

@Ecotasia

2 жыл бұрын

It was really fun to set up an aquarium and make this video, they are such interesting animals to watch

I saw a female on my car last night and needed help from “All Bugs Go to Kevin” to identify it. I’m really happy to know that her presence is a sign of health in the nearby river, which has had some issues in the past. Thank you!

i came here directly from a twilight zone episode

@Soggys0up85

Жыл бұрын

Which one?

Really neat mini-doc! Those are some gnarly-looking creatures, and I loved learning more about them!

@Ecotasia

2 жыл бұрын

gnarly, but harmless

And they are mean as a snake. One gets a hold of you, you'll never forget it

@TsunauticusIV

Жыл бұрын

I spent my youth catching them in the rivers and selling them as fishing bait. They can bite but it’s not that bad. Been bitten hundreds of times and their bite isn’t as bad as most people think. Maybe I was just tough but it wasn’t ever a big deal when they bit.

I grew up using these for some large hard to catch brown and rainbow trout in Massachusetts . I would take a small window screen and place it downstream and turn rocks in a quickly flowing river and get a bunch to use most were 2inches long and larger ! I fished the Nissitisett and Squanacook rivers and always caught some very nice trout! This video is a great one ,thank you !

Thank you! Very informative

Great mini documentary, camera work is spot-on. Thanks for sharing this.

@Ecotasia

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Wow, what an interesting bug! I kept thinking it looks like something designed in Spore. Especially the adults. It looks like you set up an aquarium for these animals, because you got some really good footage. Thanks for doing all that work!

@Ecotasia

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah I had fun with the aquarium set up, was really able to go all out for this video

My friend and I discovered one while flipping rocks for worms before we knew they existed, it was definitely a creepy sight! We were very careful to avoid their nasty mandibles

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the effort

Great video! Thank you.

@Ecotasia

Жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it!

Amazing video! Grew up catching these for bait along the Delaware river

thanks great video

@Ecotasia

Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

Many turtles love to eat them, too. Neat video!

@Ecotasia

2 жыл бұрын

I bet they do

my brother got one of the things in his shoe while we were swimming in a creek, it bit the piss out of him.

hellgrammites make good trout bait. Just be careful cuz they will bite you, especially when you're trying to hook them up onto your hook. So this is why I started using the Uncle Buck's hellgrammite pre-regged jigs for fishing. Much safer. But still these insects are very interesting and very cool.

@basedbro2578

Жыл бұрын

The nikko hellgramites are great soft plastic to use too

@billquantrill4960

Ай бұрын

@@basedbro2578 And a lot less creepy. Lol.

Hellgramites is delicious we used to eat this insect and it's very common in our place and it's expensive too in market

@Ecotasia

Жыл бұрын

I guess that is why smell bad, to keep predators away from the tasty bug.

I'd love to get some hellgrammites for the nature center I work at!

@Ecotasia

4 ай бұрын

You should! Not sure on how they do in captivity long term, as I only had them for a few hours

Grew up looking for these bad boys, the only fish bait that would bite back..

It looks a lot like a centipede

Seen one for the first time last summer and I can safely say that these things need to be extinct lol. Absolutely terrifying looking creatures

Never going swimming again 💔

I wanna do reptile shows and get some of these as pets. Aquatic insects, spiders and resources are some of the most fascinating to me

@KahlessTheUnforgettable

Жыл бұрын

Did you hear the part where he said they tend to be over harvested? These would not make suitable pets. Get a dog.

Found a dobson fly in the parking lot and though if was a sign of the last days. 😁😆😅

@Ecotasia

2 жыл бұрын

They are pretty intimidating, but completely harmless

@hemlockridgemtb4958

Жыл бұрын

@@Ecotasiawait the Dobson flies can’t bite you?? I’ve been but by helgramites and thought they could do the same thing

@Ecotasia

11 ай бұрын

@@hemlockridgemtb4958 it has been a minute since I read up on if female dobsonflies retained the bite of their larval form, I do know tye males do not.

Are these guys related to antlions?

@Ecotasia

10 ай бұрын

sort of, but also not really, insect taxonomy is complicated

I might say that referring to this as an alien in a literal way may be misleading. This insect, by the way is more interesting than it is scary, so if you really want to educate people about this insect and make them like it, why refer to with words like “creepy” and “nightmare” to describe it?

@Ecotasia

2 жыл бұрын

No I agree, really good points. I am really trying to work out the ethics of sensationalism and thinking more about what words are used and how, probably should rework the title a bit, I went a little far. Thank you for the critique.

@yingmin1636

2 жыл бұрын

@@Ecotasia Thank you very much!

I'd love to see some in the wild some time

@Ecotasia

2 жыл бұрын

Just go out and flip some rocks in a stream, actually they can be a bit hard to find though

Great bait

159th

The best bait for big bass, hands down!!

Do these start out short and fat? Emden I was a kid we would find something similar but they were not long and thin and didn't have appendages down their side. We called them water spiders. They were ugly and creepy looking!! Lol I think maybe they turn into dragon flies. I'll look that up

@Ecotasia

Жыл бұрын

Yeah that sounds like a dragonfly, these just go from small hellgrammites to big ones

@michaelvoorhees5978

Жыл бұрын

@@Ecotasia yeah it was a dragonfly nymph

From instagram feed to a documentary🫠