Some of my early memories are of water striders on the water in the irrigation ditches. It always seemed amazing that these creatures could walk on the surface of the water. This particular water strider is joined by some tiny flies, although they might be mosquitoes. This particular insect is a member of the Gerridae family. There are over 1,700 species of gerrids and 10% of those are marine and 90% are fresh water bugs. They are true bugs in the Hemiptera order. Water striders use the high surface tension of water and long, hydrophobic legs to help them stay above water. See Wikipedia: Gerridae. If you are interested, you can read about how they manage to walk on the water by clicking on the link.
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