Weird oddball at Go Nature (Yishun)

[sithspawn]

Wrong title should be Go Nature I think but anyways......

Just went to Go Nature at Yishun (near Aquastar) and saw these strange silver creatures labeled as 'Water Boatman'. From what I know water boatman skim the surface of the water and not swim. There for sale at half a buck each or 3 greens for 50.

My camera on my phone sucks so the colors are not accurate. The big pink blurs are fish. They are silver in color and look like they got wings that look like barbels of an aro.
They swim and not float. Anyone got any ideas what on earth these things are?

[Merviso]

Hey bro, IMHO this should really be water boat man. They do look like a beetle with two paddle on the side.

[vinz]

Corrected the title for you.

Anyway... with the blur and the background, the photo looks like a scene out of some alien invasion movie.

Googled for Water Boatman, and the Wikipedia entry describe Water Boatman as:

Corixidae is a family of aquatic insects in the order Hemiptera, commonly known as water boatmen. They inhabit ponds and slow moving streams, where they swim near the bottom. There are about 500 known species worldwide, in 33 genera.

Water boatmen generally have a long flattened body up to 13 mm in length and have extremely fine dark brown or black striations marking the wings. They have four long rear legs and two short front ones. The hind legs are fringed with hairs and shaped like oars, hence the name water boatman. Their front legs are scoop shaped at the tip. They also have a triangular head with short, triangular mouthparts.

...

Water boatmen are unusual among the aquatic Hemiptera in that they are mostly non-predatory, dining on aquatic plants and algae instead of insects and vertebrates. They use their straw-like mouthparts to inject saliva into plants. The saliva digests the plant material, allowing the water boatman to suck the liquefied food back through their mouthparts and into their digestive tract. A few species of water boatmen are predatory, but the majority are herbivorous.

They eat plants!!!

More pics here: http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/907/True-Bug-Corixidae-Water-Boatmen
Same insect?

[David Moses Heng]

i believe they are water boat man. Polyart recently has got one shipment and i was told that people actually buys them to feed giant puffer....

[stormhawk]

I saw these Water Boat Man at Go Nature too. Interesting little buggers, but since the species is unknown, I'd not take chances should they be the predatory type.

[Shaihulud]

They keep it with small fishes too, but haven't seen any casualties, but i have observed a few of the boatman grabbing hold of their smaller brethern. I don't know if they were cannabalizing or mating

[CK Yeo]

I have seen tank fulls of these with young Arowanas, presumably for feeding them.

ck