Beautiful egg mass 🀓

Continuing this thread here :point_down:

Non-biting midges (Chironomidae) spend most of their lifetime in an aquatic environment. Adults emerge from their pupae in the water, usually at sunset and only for a short time, in order to mate and oviposit. Females return to the water only once (in most of the species) to lay eggs. Gelatinous egg masses are attached to objects at water level. We found one such gelatinous chironomid egg mass in our local moina species culture:


[center]Chironomid egg mass[/center]

[center]Chironomid egg mass enlarged[/center]
Could there be any reason this egg mass assumes such an arrangement? Why is such an arrangement preferred?

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Any reference? @Akshitha

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Chironomid egg masses are a gelatinous matrix of cylindrical aspect, and consists of an egg string radially arranged and organized into a pseudo spiral form.
351fig01
The eggs are brownish colored and have an elliptical shape.
Reference:SciELO - Brasil - Growth of immature Chironomus calligraphus (Diptera, Chironomidae) in laboratory conditions Growth of immature Chironomus calligraphus (Diptera, Chironomidae) in laboratory conditions

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