SHORE FLY

any tiny dark coloured insect of the family Ephydridae (order Diptera), commonly found in great numbers around ponds, streams, and the seashore. One such species, the carnivorous petroleum fly (Psilopa petrolei), lives and breeds in pools of crude petroleum, feeding on trapped insects. At one time, Indians in the western United States gathered the aquatic larvae of shore flies for food. A few of the larvae are leaf miners.