Saturday, May 16, 2009

Controlling the plague

image The plague of mosquitoes which is affecting Orihuela is being described as unusual. The good news is that the insects are the quironómidos* that don’t produce itchy bites. Even still they are a nuisance as you can see in this picture.

Normally fish in the Segura would eat the larvae but there are very few of these to be seen in the Orihuela section of the river at the moment.

The company responsible for eradicating them says that they are confident that the problem will be controlled within three to four days. They have two teams of workers out fumigating areas where the insects are found.

*The name of a group of flies like a tiny little mosquito. Some species can live in polluted stretches with little oxygen, by increasing the concentration of hemoglobin in their hemolymph which gives them a reddish color. When the adults emerge a few swarms are very numerous on the banks of aquatic ecosystems.

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