Blood Worms (chironomidae larvae)

There are lots of different types of blood worm. They tend to be small but the ones we see in the pond are really small. They are actually the larvae of a kind of midge fly. Larvae are the child version of the adult, as caterpillars are to butterflies. 

Blood worms live in the pond and feed off anything small they can find. They also provide a tasty snack for many other creatures in the pond.

We also have phantom midge larvae in our pond (please see a separate entry) which are translucent (see through). However blood worms are red because they have hemoglobin in their bodies which helps them to extract oxygen from the water. This means they can survive in more polluted water because they are better at getting the oxygen they need to survive.