[RPL/LL]

Found in my work parking lot near a wooded area..any ideas? Everett,wa

 

[Zak]

Found in my work parking lot near a wooded area..any ideas? Everett,wa

Giant toe biter. No joke. I had one of them chase me around on a rock on river.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/giant-water-bug.htm

 

[HauntedByWaters]

Lethocerus americanus

Or the giant water bug or giant water beetle.

 

[Jim F.]

Yup. Looks like a Giant Water Bug to me, also.

 

[HauntedByWaters]

My favorite story of one of these critters:

When I was young I was fishing off a family friends dock on a lake and gill hooked a fish that died quickly. I put the fish on a piece of string hanging off the dock and into the water to keep it cold and completely forgot about it (I was like 12 or 13).

Later that night someone reminded me about the fish and how I should cut and fillet it because I killed it. So I went and grabbed the fish and put it on a cutting board in the kitchen. I had little experience so did poorly opening the gut cavity but when I did I could see lots of movement in the stomach. My friend said, “it’s got a fish in its belly!” So I saw that stomach open and out pops this giant beetle thing and it is ripping around everywhere like a boss. Very fast like a cockroach on the fluid covered cutting board.

The girls in the room were forever impacted and rarely swam around there until they were old enough to not be scared.

My hunch is the beetle crawled in the fish after it was dead and was eating from the inside out. It is possible the fish ate the beetle but the beetle was in perfect shape and very feisty so I didn’t think it was eaten.

 

[No longer with us]

My favorite story of one of these critters:

When I was young I was fishing off a family friends dock on a lake and gill hooked a fish that died quickly. I put the fish on a piece of string hanging off the dock and into the water to keep it cold and completely forgot about it (I was like 12 or 13).

Later that night someone reminded me about the fish and how I should cut and fillet it because I killed it. So I went and grabbed the fish and put it on a cutting board in the kitchen. I had little experience so did poorly opening the gut cavity but when I did I could see lots of movement in the stomach. My friend said, "it's got a fish in its belly!" So I saw that stomach open and out pops this giant beetle thing and it is ripping around everywhere like a boss. Very fast like a cockroach on the fluid covered cutting board.

The girls in the room were forever impacted and rarely swam around there until they were old enough to not be scared.

My hunch is the beetle crawled in the fish after it was dead and was eating from the inside out. It is possible the fish ate the beetle but the beetle was in perfect shape and very feisty so I didn't think it was eaten.

Your screen name should be HauntedByBugs.

cheers

 

[Northern]

My favorite story of one of these critters:

When I was young I was fishing off a family friends dock on a lake and gill hooked a fish that died quickly. I put the fish on a piece of string hanging off the dock and into the water to keep it cold and completely forgot about it (I was like 12 or 13).

Later that night someone reminded me about the fish and how I should cut and fillet it because I killed it. So I went and grabbed the fish and put it on a cutting board in the kitchen. I had little experience so did poorly opening the gut cavity but when I did I could see lots of movement in the stomach. My friend said, "it's got a fish in its belly!" So I saw that stomach open and out pops this giant beetle thing and it is ripping around everywhere like a boss. Very fast like a cockroach on the fluid covered cutting board.

The girls in the room were forever impacted and rarely swam around there until they were old enough to not be scared.

My hunch is the beetle crawled in the fish after it was dead and was eating from the inside out. It is possible the fish ate the beetle but the beetle was in perfect shape and very feisty so I didn't think it was eaten.

Mother. Of. God.

If I had been one of those "girls in the room", it probably would have saved me from a lifetime fishing addiction!

 

[13418]

Nothing to see here

 

[River Is Polluted]

@Kenneth Yong ^^^ THAT is not what I expecting to read here. Learn something everyday!

 

[SilverFly]

Mother. Of. God.

If I had been one of those "girls in the room", it probably would have saved me from a lifetime fishing addiction!

My wife loves being near the water, just not in it, because of mostly imaginary "things" lurking under the surface. Not so imaginary in this case. Although, the real nightmare creepy/crawlies live in saltwater. "Bobbit worms" make this thing look like a ladybug.

 

[Northern]

My wife loves being near the water, just not in it, because of mostly imaginary "things" lurking under the surface. Not so imaginary in this case. Although, the real nightmare creepy/crawlies live in saltwater. "Bobbit worms" make this thing look like a ladybug.

The thought of creepy crawlies in the water doesn't bother me - I expect them there. It was the Alien-esque emergence of the creature from inside the fish that's the stuff of my nightmares!
Nope, nope, nope.

 

[DeadandBloated]

Was fishing the desert once in the dark and heard a really weird sound near me. After a few minutes I decided to shine a light and look. A Giant Water Bug was "preening" itself by waters edge. YIKES ! That was a spooky sight that had me forgetting about ticks and snakes.

One more thing to consider telling people you don't want to take night fishing with you..

 

[creekx]

Many years ago a customer of Blue Ribbon Flies in West was bitten/stung by a water beetle on the Madison. His entire leg was swollen, causing a serious medical emergency. He had been wet wading with wading pants and the bug was trapped inside a pant leg. The consensus at the time was do not wear wading pants unless you have a cuff or have them tucked inside a gravel guard. Of course I never heeded that warning...

 

[Batt B]

There was a live but lethargic one of these giant water bugs on the soccer field tonight, right in the goal box. I would've moved it off the field but I was in the middle of playing soccer and I also remembered this thread and didn't want to potentially get bitten by that sucker. I commented to the opposing center back "Oh did you see this cool bug?" And he said "Yeah, that beetle? It's cool." And then I just off-hand commented that it's a giant water bug and I thought it was poisonous which I think he took as an attempted psych-out move (guess it's not poisonous? But very painful? Except that @creekx 's account above, well that sounds to me like a reaction to a toxin. Maybe it was just that one person.) Anyway, I glanced at the Wikipedia page for this critter before coming here and according to that it is sometimes called the "electric light bug" because it's attracted to lights. Well duh, it seems Like most insects are attracted to lights at night.
Which reminds me of a childhood memory. I grew up in the Southeast US and made a couple insect collections for elementary school. I think I always had the best ones in class. Definitely got As on them. My "secret"? Going to the neighborhood tennis courts at night, cranking on the lights, and hitting balls or whatever and waiting to see who would show up. I remember being particularly proud of a lubber grasshopper. Never got a giant water bug, though.

 

[Mike Bacca]

Looks like a Eeekacrap scary bug to me.

 

[Bagman]

Maeng Da! Yum!

Growing up in various parts of South-east Asia, I used to eat the Asian relative (Lethocerus indicus). Deep-fried with a chili sauce (also partly made from Maeng Da) or mixed into noodles were my favorite ways of enjoying them. Tastes like shrimp, but with a nuttier flavor. As Homer would say, "Hmmm, Maeng Da!"

Kenneth

Or mixed with chillies in a hot sauce, I use to see them on a BarBQ being cooked by the street vendors. The people of Thailand could smell under the wing and tell you if it were a male or a female, I would get 5 cents for a male and 10 cents for a female. I know it doesn't sound like much but back then I could buy a beer for 50 cents and a pack of cigarettes for 20 cents. That was in 1967. We called them rice bugs, their main food being rice.