Tucked away in the damp tall grasses, flies in the genus Dicranota hold a fascinating secret hidden right in their gaze. Belonging to the family Pediciidae, these gentle insects are known as “hairy-eyed crane flies”—a nickname earned because tiny, microscopic hairs grow right out of the gaps between their eye lenses! While adult crane flies spend their daytime hours hiding quietly in lush foliage before taking to the air at dusk, their larvae lead a surprisingly fierce underwater life. Living at the bottom of cold, fast-running streams and glacial lakes, these aquatic larvae are active hunters, using sharp, sickle-shaped jaws to stalk small underwater invertebrates. I encountered this small, 1-centimeter-long fly resting peacefully in high grass along the shore of a large post-glacial lake near Barkarby, Sweden. Like many people, I initially mistook it for a mosquito until I took a closer look at its delicate features!