Walking on water

This is not a Mono-Monday blip: it was taken on Sunday and it's in colour, except that there was no colour on the reflective surface of the river. 
These are pond skaters,  insects that can move around on water without breaking the surface tension, shown here and in the extra image, by the dimples visible under their feet. Only 0.1% of insects have this ability and it has long puzzled scientists. 
Recent studies by mathematicians and physicists, using dyed water and high-speed video cameras, have shown that
"pond skaters use the middle of their three pairs of legs like a rower uses oars in a rowboat. When an oar slices the water, it creates swirling vortices just beneath the surface that twist away from the boat, imparting forward momentum to the boat. Similarly, the pond skater’s legs leave behind the same vortices under the water’s surface."
(The front legs are used to capture and grasp prey and the back legs to steer).
Crucially, the pond skater's  legs are covered with infinitesimal hairs coated with water-repellent wax the simulation of which is  a holy grail for designers eager to reproduce its unique qualities. 

Pond skaters also have wings which is why they can so quickly colonize a body of water. They are predators and scavengers who run towards and feast upon insects, alive or dead,  that have fallen into the water as well as those that live in it.
Soap decreases the surface tension of water so if a pond skater has the misfortune to land in your washing up bowl it will drown.

Further information of their ability to walk on water here.