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Water boatmen are aquatic insects, swimming jerkily below the water surface. They are similar to Backswimmers, but don't swim on their backs. Water boatmen carry air on their body surface and under their wings, which they trap at the surface. They largely eat algae and other minute vegetable and animal organisms. They can fly, preferring to do so at night, when they leap out of the water, then land on the surface feet down. They then fly away strongly. The young look like adults, and are called nymphs. They go through as many as 5 molts before attaining adulthood. They are common across the United States except in the southeast and Gulf states.