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Evidence

Where all of this came from.

39 reference records rest on 224 published pages, and 109 of those come from state and provincial natural-resources departments. That suits a set of records about what lives in the water those departments survey. The rest is federal survey work, university and extension guides, and interagency reports. The counts are below. Every reviewed line sits behind a record or a search, with the sources standing behind its record.

Carrier reviewed
2026-09-25
Next review due
2026-12-24
Review cadence
90 days
Publication state
Approved — reviewed evidence, within its review cadence

How to read this

A line is cited as precisely as someone checked it.

Where a reviewer traced a line to the pages that carry it, the line names those pages and, when the evidence is narrower than the record, where it comes from — one coast, one lake, one region. 605 of 1049 of the lines below are traced that way. The rest show the sources standing behind their whole record, marked “record’s sources”, because nobody has yet checked which page carried which line, and printing a single citation there would be a mapping nobody made.

  • National

    52

    A federal or national government body — USGS, NOAA, EPA, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Park Service, Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

  • State

    109

    A state, provincial or commonwealth natural-resources department. Most of this carrier rests here, which suits it: these are the bodies that survey the water the records describe.

  • Interagency

    12

    A commission or joint survey run across several agencies, such as the Great Lakes Fishery Commission's forage task groups.

  • University

    45

    A university research programme, cooperative extension service or Sea Grant office. Published work, but not the agency that manages the water.

  • Journal

    6

    A peer-reviewed paper, or a curated scientific register such as the World Register of Marine Species. Added with the 2026-09-25 evidence review, which went to the primary study where no agency page said what a claim needed.

Probe leftovers

What the weekly check could not treat as ordinary.

These addresses are still the citations. The check named what it saw. None of them is a gone page in the MISIN sense, so the records were not rewritten to hide a redirect, a timeout, or a bot wall.

  • Iowa DNR — BluegillMoved

    The cited address answers through a permanent redirect. GET on the page that lands still names Bluegill.

    A same-site move that still names the animal is not the MISIN case. The citation stays until a reviewer reads the new address into the record.

  • CASG — market squidUnreachable from this network

    The California Sea Grant market-squid page times out from the probe network.

    NOAA still covers the same animal on this record. The CASG address stays; a timeout is not a reason to drop a citation.

  • Mass.gov — menhaden and longfin squidRefused the probe

    Both creature-feature pages answered 403 from the probe network.

    A bot wall is not evidence the page is gone. The citations stay; the weekly check does not fail the build on unverifiable.

  • Michigan DNR — crayfish identification PDFRefused the probe

    The cited PDF answered 403 from the probe network.

    A refused PDF is not a 404. The citation stays on the crayfish record until a reviewer can open it.

  • Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute — silversidesRefused the probe

    The Menidia page answered 500 from the probe network.

    A 500 is not a 404, and it is not a 403. The citation stays.

Showing 31 of 1049 claims and 6 of 224 sources.

Claims

Every reviewed line in the app.

  • Mole crab (sand flea) →31 lines

    • What you can seeNo claws you can see: the only pincer is a tiny one on the hidden last pair of legs, used to clean the gills. It cannot bite or pinchUF-IFAS-SAND-FLEAS, FWC-MOLE-CRAB, WWU-EMERITA-ANALOGAEvidence from: Three Emerita species combined (Florida Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific)
    • What you can seeRounded, smooth, white to grey carapace; the Pacific species is grey or greenish, with small transverse ridges across the frontUF-IFAS-SAND-FLEAS, FWC-MOLE-CRAB, WWU-EMERITA-ANALOGAEvidence from: Three Emerita species combined (Florida Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific)
    • What you can seeTwo feathery antennae sitting below the eyesFWC-MOLE-CRAB, WWU-EMERITA-ANALOGAEvidence from: Three Emerita species combined (Florida Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific)
    • What you can seeIn the Florida species, five pairs of legs: the first without claws, the second flattened and paddle-like, the last three very shortFWC-MOLE-CRABEvidence from: Florida mole crab (Emerita talpoida)
    • What you can seeA triangular tail — the telson — folded under the body and used for diggingFWC-MOLE-CRAB, WWU-EMERITA-ANALOGA, UF-IFAS-SAND-FLEASEvidence from: Three Emerita species combined (Florida Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific)
    • What you can seeFemales carry an orange egg mass tucked under the tail (described for the Pacific species)WWU-EMERITA-ANALOGAEvidence from: Pacific sand crab (Emerita analoga), Pacific coast
    • What argues against itVisible claws, a wide spined shell and paddle-shaped back legs is a true crab, not a mole crabCBP-BLUE-CRABEvidence from: Blue crab (Chesapeake account)
    • What argues against itAntennae three times the length of the body belong to Lepidopa, a less common sand crab, not to EmeritaUF-IFAS-SAND-FLEASEvidence from: Florida panhandle, Gulf coast (Emerita portoricensis per source)
    • What argues against itOn the Pacific coast, spines on the shell and legs point to the spiny mole crab rather than this oneWWU-EMERITA-ANALOGAEvidence from: Pacific sand crab (Emerita analoga), Pacific coast
    • What argues against itA body flattened side to side that swims on its side is an amphipod — the other animal people call a sand fleaUMCES-GAMMARUS
    • Declared limitWhich Emerita is “the” sand flea differs by source and by place. Florida's wildlife agency profiles one species statewide and a Florida extension office names a different one for the panhandle. This record does not offer a species call from a photograph.record’s sources
    • Declared limitSize figures conflict substantially for the same animal in the same state: up to two inches in one Florida source, half an inch to an inch in another. The band spans both rather than choosing.record’s sources
    • Declared limitNo source consulted gives an Atlantic coastwise range, a spawning season, or a description of a freshly moulted mole crab.FWC-MOLE-CRAB, UF-IFAS-SAND-FLEAS, WWU-EMERITA-ANALOGAEvidence from: Three Emerita species combined (Florida Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific)
    • Declared limitNo source consulted states a tide stage that concentrates mole crabs in a way an angler could fish. The only sourced statement is that they stay in the swash zone as the tide advances and retreats.WWU-EMERITA-ANALOGA, JCR-EMERITA-TALPOIDA
    • Size bandyoung-of-year: 5-13 mmWWU-EMERITA-ANALOGAEvidence from: Pacific sand crab (Emerita analoga), Pacific coast
    • Size bandadult: 13-51 mmFWC-MOLE-CRAB, UF-IFAS-SAND-FLEAS, WWU-EMERITA-ANALOGAEvidence from: Three Emerita species combined (Florida Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific)
    • Water typesurfrecord’s sources
    • Life stageyoung-of-yearrecord’s sources
    • Life stageadultrecord’s sources
    • Where it sitsburied in wet sand in the swash zone of an open beachrecord’s sources
    • Where it sitstracks the waterline up and down the beach as the tide moves rather than holding one spotWWU-EMERITA-ANALOGAEvidence from: Pacific sand crab (Emerita analoga), Pacific coast
    • Where it sitsin the sand, not on itrecord’s sources
    • How it movesburrows rear-first, tail and abdomen going in before the headFWC-MOLE-CRAB, UF-IFAS-SAND-FLEAS, WWU-EMERITA-ANALOGAEvidence from: Three Emerita species combined (Florida Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific)
    • How it movespops up out of the sand, rides a wave, and burrows againWWU-EMERITA-ANALOGA, UF-IFAS-SAND-FLEASEvidence from: Three Emerita species combined (Florida Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific)
    • How it movesunfolds its antennae into the retreating wave to feed, then folds them back under the mouthWWU-EMERITA-ANALOGA, FWC-MOLE-CRABEvidence from: Pacific sand crab (Emerita analoga), Pacific coast
    • Sources disagreeThree sources credit the digging to three different parts in three different words — tail first, the telson, and the abdomen. They describe one rear-first motion at different levels of precision, but they are not the same wording.record’s sources
    • Sources disagreeAntenna length is described differently: Florida's wildlife agency calls them feathery, Walla Walla University (Pacific species) long and feathery, and the Florida extension account small and short.record’s sources
    • Sources disagreeThe legs are described differently for two species: Florida's wildlife agency gives a clawless first pair, a paddle-like second pair and three very short pairs (Atlantic species); Walla Walla University gives four flattened digging pairs and a slender, clawed fifth pair (Pacific species).record’s sources
    • Sources disagreeThe tail is 'short and triangular' in Florida's wildlife-agency account and an 'elongated telson', arrowhead or spade-shaped, in Walla Walla University's account of the Pacific species.record’s sources
    • Sources disagreeAdult size: up to 2 inches in Florida's wildlife-agency profile, a half inch to an inch in the Florida extension account, and a carapace to 3.5 cm in Walla Walla University's account of the Pacific species.record’s sources
    • Sources disagreeFlorida's extension account calls mole crabs clawless; Walla Walla University describes, in the Pacific species, a slender clawed fifth leg used to clean the gills. Neither describes a claw an observer would see.record’s sources

The pages themselves

All 224, and what each one is holding up.

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