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.
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.
Claims
Every reviewed line in the app.
Scud / Amphipod (crustacean lookalike) →24 lines
- What you can seebody compressed from side to side (taller than wide; narrow seen from above)WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE, UMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS
- What you can seeseven pairs of walking legs; the first two pairs are small grasping legs that may look claw-likeWV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE, UMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS, MDC-SCUDS
- What you can seeno wings, no wing pads, no insect-style cerciEPA-MACRO-ID-TIPS, WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE, MDC-SCUDS
- What you can seesemitransparent body, usually grey, sometimes white or brownEPA-MACRO-ID-TIPS
- What you can seecharacteristically swims sidewaysWV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE, UMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS, MDC-SCUDS
- What argues against ittwo or three long, slender tail filaments rule out Amphipoda; a scud's rear carries only short, leg-like appendagesEPA-MACRO-ID-TIPS
- What argues against itportable case, abdominal gills of mayfly type, or upright/tent insect wings rule out scudEPA-MACRO-ID-TIPS, MDC-SCUDS
- What argues against itsegmented true insect legs limited to three pairs (hexapod) plus possible prolegs differ from the seven-pair amphipod patternWV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE
- What argues against itthis record is provided only as a disambiguation aid; it is not an insect order and never a hatch match targetrecord’s sources
- Declared limitScuds are crustaceans, not insects. This record exists solely to reduce false positive calls of mayfly, caddis, or stonefly nymphs when the observer sees a laterally flattened, side-swimming form.record’s sources
- Declared limitNever treat a scud result as a biological 'hatch' cue for trout or as an insect identification.record’s sources
- Declared limitBroad Amphipoda only; many genera exist and habitat preferences vary.MDC-SCUDS
- Size bandadult: 5-20 (most under 13) mmUMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS, MDC-SCUDS, EPA-MACRO-ID-TIPS, NMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC
- Water typeriverrecord’s sources
- Water typestreamrecord’s sources
- Water typelake-marginrecord’s sources
- Water typespringrecord’s sources
- Life stageadultrecord’s sources
- Where it sitsamong vegetation, leaf packs, or substraterecord’s sources
- Where it sitsswimming near coverMDC-SCUDS, UMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS
- How it movesswims on its side (sideswimmer)record’s sources
- How it movesrapid dartingrecord’s sources
- How it movescrawls among plantsrecord’s sources
- Sources disagreeMaximum size differs by source. EPA's tip sheet gives scuds up to one-half inch and New Mexico State University up to 1.25 cm; the Upper Midwest guide gives 5-20 mm and Missouri a quarter to three-quarters of an inch.record’s sources
- U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyEPA-MACRO-ID-TIPS · National · read 2026-08-06
- West Virginia Department of Environmental ProtectionWV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE · State · read 2026-08-24
- Water Resources Center, University of MinnesotaUMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS · University · read 2026-09-25
- New Mexico State University ExtensionNMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC · University · read 2026-09-06
- Missouri Department of ConservationMDC-SCUDS · State · read 2026-09-25
The pages themselves
All 224, and what each one is holding up.
- Missouri Department of Conservation
MDC-SCUDS
- New Mexico State University Extension
NMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA-MACRO-ID-TIPS
- Water Resources Center, University of Minnesota
UMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS
- West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE
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