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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 36 of 1049 claims and 10 of 224 sources.

Claims

Every reviewed line in the app.

  • Sand lance (sand eel) →36 lines

    • What you can seeNo pelvic fins anywhere on the underside — the single most useful character in the groupNOAA-ORR-AMMODYTESEvidence from: genus Ammodytes
    • What you can seeOne dorsal fin running most of the length of the back, 49 to 69 rays, folding down into a grooveNOAA-ORR-AMMODYTES, ADFG-SAND-LANCEEvidence from: genus Ammodytes
    • What you can seeLower jaw projects past the upper, with a sharp point at the chinNOAA-ORR-AMMODYTESEvidence from: genus Ammodytes
    • What you can seeNo teeth in the jaws at allNOAA-ORR-AMMODYTES, ADFG-SAND-LANCE
    • What you can seeFine oblique lines along the flank where the scales sit in dermal folds, and a loose fold of skin along the edge of the bellyNOAA-ORR-AMMODYTES, ADFG-SAND-LANCE
    • What you can seeDeeply forked tail and a lateral line running high on the bodyADFG-SAND-LANCE, NOAA-ORR-AMMODYTES
    • What argues against itPelvic fins of any kind rule out sand lance outright — Ammodytes has noneNOAA-ORR-AMMODYTESEvidence from: genus Ammodytes
    • What argues against itTwo dorsal fins with a gap between them is a silverside, not a sand lancerecord’s sources
    • What argues against itA short triangular dorsal near the middle of the back is the herring and menhaden patternrecord’s sources
    • What argues against itA snout overhanging the mouth is an anchovy; sand lance lead with the lower jawrecord’s sources
    • What argues against itSharp belly scutes forming a sawtooth keel is a clupeid; a sand lance has only soft skin folds thereNOAA-ORR-AMMODYTES
    • Declared limitThe two Atlantic species cannot be reliably separated by eye. The NOAA synthesis reports that standard DNA barcoding has failed to split them, though one unpublished dataset suggests it can, and that the difference rests on distribution, maximum size, and plicae and vertebral counts. This record does not offer an American-versus-Northern call.NOAA-SANDLANCE-SYNTHEvidence from: Northwest Atlantic
    • Declared limitSources disagree on typical size by a wide margin: USGS describes three to six inches while the NOAA synthesis gives maxima of 20 cm and 30 cm for the two species. Both are shown rather than averaged.USGS-SAND-LANCE, NOAA-SANDLANCE-SYNTH
    • Declared limitNo source consulted describes sand lance showering at the surface or being pushed onto beaches by predators, despite how often that is said. This record makes no such claim.record’s sources
    • Declared limitNo source consulted states whether an adipose fin is present. The NOAA systematic revision gives the snout as 23 to 30 per cent of head length and the eye as 11 to 20 per cent in the North Pacific species, so the eye is shorter than the snout.NOAA-ORR-AMMODYTESEvidence from: North Pacific Ammodytes species
    • Declared limitMissing pelvic fins are not unique to sand lance. Atlantic butterfish and Atlantic cutlassfish lack them too. The butterfish is a deep oval about a third as deep as long, and the cutlassfish has no tail fin, so the eel-thin body and forked tail belong with the missing pelvics.STRI-P-TRIACANTHUS, STRI-T-LEPTURUS, NOAA-ORR-AMMODYTESEvidence from: Western Atlantic look-alikes
    • Declared limitThe school depths here come from one Gulf of Maine slope. Northern sand lance offshore are mostly deeper than twenty metres, and Alaska gives Pacific sand lance as most common shallower than fifty metres but down to 275.NOAA-MEYER-SANDLANCE, NOAA-SANDLANCE-SYNTH, ADFG-SAND-LANCE
    • Size bandyoung-of-year: 4-60 mmNOAA-RICHARDS-SANDLANCE, NOAA-SANDLANCE-SYNTHEvidence from: Continental shelf, Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras (1966 larval surveys)
    • Size bandadult: 76-300 mmUSGS-SAND-LANCE, NOAA-SANDLANCE-SYNTH, NOAA-ORR-AMMODYTESEvidence from: Above about 200 mm only Northern sand lance (A. dubius), Northwest Atlantic
    • Water typesurfrecord’s sources
    • Water typeinshorerecord’s sources
    • Water typenearshorerecord’s sources
    • Water typeoffshorerecord’s sources
    • Life stageyoung-of-yearrecord’s sources
    • Life stageadultrecord’s sources
    • Where it sitsburied in clean coarse sand, or in the water column directly above itNOAA-SANDLANCE-SYNTH, NOAA-BIZZARRO-PSL, NOAA-MEYER-SANDLANCE
    • Where it sitsover well-washed sand and fine gravel; mud, silt and rock are avoidedNOAA-MEYER-SANDLANCE, ADFG-SAND-LANCE, NOAA-BIZZARRO-PSL
    • Where it sitsAmerican sand lance: shallow nearshore water, often less than two metres; Northern sand lance mostly deeper than twentyNOAA-SANDLANCE-SYNTHEvidence from: Northwest Atlantic; American vs Northern sand lance
    • Where it sitsdense schools from the surface down to about twenty metresNOAA-MEYER-SANDLANCEEvidence from: Provincetown slope, Gulf of Maine (American sand lance)
    • How it movesdives head-first into the sand at sixty to seventy-five degrees and disappearsNOAA-MEYER-SANDLANCEEvidence from: Diver observations, Stellwagen Bank and Provincetown slope, Gulf of Maine (American sand lance)
    • How it movesleaves the sand at twenty to sixty degrees, accelerating to about 120 cm per second within the first metre and a halfNOAA-MEYER-SANDLANCEEvidence from: Diver observations, Stellwagen Bank and Provincetown slope, Gulf of Maine (American sand lance)
    • How it movesundisturbed schools cruise at 30-50 cm per second; feeding schools slow to 15-25NOAA-MEYER-SANDLANCEEvidence from: Diver observations, Stellwagen Bank and Provincetown slope, Gulf of Maine (American sand lance)
    • How it movescloses up to about a quarter body length apart, or balls up, when threatened; a school may also splitNOAA-MEYER-SANDLANCE, ADFG-SAND-LANCE
    • Sources disagreeDiel burial runs both ways in the sources. Alaska Department of Fish and Game states Pacific sand lance feed and school by day and burrow at night, and USGS says the same of the Northwest Atlantic species; a NOAA Fishery Bulletin field study in the San Juan Channel, Washington, found substantially more buried during the day than at night, 119.8 per square metre against 47.7. Neither is offered here as the rule.record’s sources
    • Sources disagreeThe Pacific species carries two names across agency sources: Ammodytes personatus in the NOAA systematic revision and on Washington's species page, Ammodytes hexapterus in Alaska's species account. Both travel with this record.record’s sources
    • Sources disagreeMaximum size is stated two ways. The NOAA synthesis says Northern sand lance can grow to over 30 cm; the NOAA systematic revision gives the genus an elongate body up to 280 mm total length.record’s sources

The pages themselves

All 224, and what each one is holding up.

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