Safety in Numbers Staying alive is one of the biggest challenges for


larvae. T ey can be small with few defenses. A baby jelly tries to survive by hiding in a


crowd. It fl oats in the ocean with billions of other larvae. Some of these larvae are crabs. Others are shrimps, sea stars, or barnacles. Each is about as big as the period at the end of this sentence. T is mass of larvae rides the ocean currents.


T ey rise to the surface to find food. T ey sink down deep to hide from predators. T is doesn’t always work. Suddenly, the water around the jelly larva churns. A great blue whale opens its mouth. It sucks in seawater, the young jelly, and lots of other larvae. T e water gushes out of the whale’s mouth,


but the larvae are trapped. T e whale swallows them. Billions more larvae don’t get gulped by the whale. Some will survive long enough to become adults.


Change Is Coming To become adults, larvae don’t just grow bigger.


Oſt en, their whole bodies change. T ey lose some body parts and grow new ones. T is change is called metamorphosis. A mosquito is a good example. A female


mosquito lays hundreds of eggs in a puddle. T ey fl oat, stuck together like a raſt . Soon, the raſt shakes. One egg hatches, then


another. T ese larvae look nothing like their mother. Each is long and skinny. Tiny spines stick out from their bodies. T e larvae swim through the water. T ey


hunt for algae to eat. Some of the larvae even eat each other. Suddenly, one larva wriggles wildly. It can’t breathe underwater! It zooms to the surface and sticks out a special breathing tube. It floats and sucks in air through the tube. As the mosquito larva grows, it sheds its skin


and grows a new one every few days. T is is called molting. Finally, the larva molts for the last time. It


stops eating. It barely moves. Instead, it grows a hard shell. It becomes a pupa.


6 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


Extreme Makeover Inside the shell, the insect’s body turns to


mush. New body parts form. When the pupa shell splits open, an adult mosquito climbs out. It has wings and six long, skinny legs. It fl ies off . Soon, it will lay eggs and new larvae will hatch. For all of these critters, their life as larvae


is more than a strange stage. It helps them to survive. For instance, mosquitoes don’t need to compete with their larvae for food. T e young eat algae. T e adults drink nectar and blood. Other species need larvae so they can move


to new places. Take an adult sea squirt, for example. It can’t swim. Its larvae can. Aſt er it hatches, the larva swims to a new spot on the seafl oor. T at way, it doesn’t compete with the adults for space. T en it cements its head to the seafl oor. It will stay there for the rest of its life. T en there are ant larvae. T e goo they


make feeds the colony. T e adults and larvae work together to get the food they need to live. For many animals, though, this larva life


doesn’t last long. Soon, they’re on their way to one of the most extreme makeovers in nature.


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