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Invertebrates in King County
Invertebrates include insects, as well as anything other animal life that does not have a backbone. Cephalopods (octopus and squid) are invertebrates, as well as ladybugs, zooplankton, earthworms, clams and mussels, moths and butterflies, and a variety of critters we call benthic macroinvertebrates -- also known as stream bugs.
Freshwater Invertebrates
Stream bugs
The Puget Sound Stream Benthos website was developed by a group of agencies interested in monitoring the health of streams in the Pacific Northwest. The City of Seattle, King County, Pierce County, and Snohomish County worked collaboratively to create a database system that allows sharing of benthic macroinvertebrate data among many organizations and provides tools for calculating metrics and indices. The site is used to store and analyze data from ongoing macroinvertebrate sampling programs.
You can visit King County's Stream Bug Monitoring website to learn general information about benthic macroinvertebrates, why they are important in streams, how King County uses them as stream health indicators, and information on county streams that are being monitored. Next time you are walking near your neighborhood stream (after reading Your Guide to Visiting Watersheds), carefully pick up a rock. You might be surprised at what you find!
Freshwater mussels
Freshwater mussels are another invertebrate that may be found in our streams. Depending on the species, these animals often indicate good water quality. They are also a good reason to keep from walking in streams -- they often look like rocks and are easily squashed. And while their long-lived natural history is impressive (they can live to 100 years), that also means they don't produce many young. So they are unable to replenish their population if they are killed.
Leeches
Every year as lake temperatures rise and the water becomes more inviting for swimming, people wonder about leeches. Some people have water features in their yards, and after the family dogs tromps through the pond or fountain it comes back with leeches on its feet.
Leeches reproduce in the spring, and the young leeches are out of their cocoons several weeks later in the summertime, when leeches are most abundant. They grow for a season, and are ready to breed by the following spring to begin the cycle again. They are commonly found in lakes and ponds and many of them provide food for vertebrates such as fish, ducks, turtles and some other birds. Leeches tend to swim near the bottom to avoid risk of predation, and they usually stay near the shallow regions of their aquatic habitats.
Leeches prefer invertebrates and other vertebrate hosts (fish, reptiles, and mammals) to humans, but if a human walks in their shallow water habitat, some of them will climb on for a meal. For about 2500 years, leeches were needlessly applied for many ailments. So if you find a leech on you, it probably won't cure any ailments, but it shouldn't do any harm either.
Marine Invertebrates
One of the most exciting and easiest ways to see a huge variety of invertebrate life in King County is to look in the marine environment! Our Marine Life photo site offers a glimpse into the variety of life found in the waters of Puget Sound. With multiple species of sea stars, crabs, clams, nudibranchs, octopus, squid, sea cucumbers, anemones, corals, and more, Puget Sound hosts a rich, beautiful, and dynamic biota.
Terrestrial Invertebrates
Pollinators
Pollinators are an incredibly important group of animals, but a group that people often do not consider. Some of our pollinators are vertebrates, like birds and bats. But there is a wide array of invertebrate pollinators -- like bees! Bees, wasps, butterflies, ants, flies, and moths play a critical role in the pollination of nearly all flowering plants -- including our food crops. Have you recently given up plastic grocery sacks for reusable ones? Well here is another step you can take in being a better earth steward by learning about pollinators and what you might do to help them.
Hobo Spiders
Here in the northwest we don't have many poisonous animals. However, one spider that can cause problems if it bites is the hobo spider. Distinguishing which of the 800-900 spider species in Washington that you encounter is a hobo spider is the challenge. Here are a few good resources:
- Hobo Spiders website by Utah State University Extension. Range, lifecycle, identification, and more.
- How to recognize hobo spiders: Myth-busting, from the Burke Museum.
- Hobo Spider Integrated Pest Management in and Around the Home, from University of California Cooperative Extension. According to this article, “Although once common in Seattle, the hobo spider apparently is being competitively displaced by another European Tegenaria....species so that it is now difficult (but not impossible) to find hobo spiders in Seattle."
- BugGuide.net's page on Hobo Spiders. Taxonomy, identification, habitat, and more.