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Animal profile

Common backswimmer

Notonecta glauca

InsectaStill and slow fresh water including ponds, ditches, canals and garden water features

Field profile

The common backswimmer is a boat-shaped aquatic bug about 15 millimetres long that swims inverted, propelled by long, oar-like hind legs fringed with hairs. It is a predator of insects, tadpoles and small fish, and can deliver a painful stab if handled. Adults fly between water bodies.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2026-03-30

Common backswimmer

The backswimmer swims, sees and hunts upside down

Notonecta glauca spends its life inverted beneath the surface film, rowing with hair-fringed hind legs. Its eyes look downwards through the water, its dark side faces the sky, and it carries a silver air store on what is anatomically its back.

Read with evidence →

Common backswimmer | Daily Animal Facts