It is well known among most biologists that 95 percent of life on earth will fit in a coffee cup! Of course, whales, zebras and elephants won’t, but vertebrates only comprise less that one percent of all living things. Even though we are accustomed to recognizing animals with backbones, such as fish, birds, reptiles and mammals, there are many more to which we pay scant attention.

Most invertebrates are invisible, but some are not. Scientifically, these organisms are referred to as macro invertebrates. They do not have backbones and are visible to the naked eye. This large group of animals includes mollusks, insects, crustaceans and annelids. Some of these organisms spend only a part of their life cycle in water as nymphs, naiads or larval forms, and the rest as adults on land or flying.