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.
Aquatic sowbug (aquatic isopod) →22 lines
- What you can seebody flattened top to bottom, so it crawls flat with its back uppermostMDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG, EPA-MACROINVERT-FIELD-GUIDEEvidence from: Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho)
- What you can seeseven pairs of walking legs, mostly alike; the front pair can look small and claw-likeMDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG, WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE, UMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS
- What you can seetwo pairs of antennae, one pair conspicuously longMDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG, WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE, NMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC
- What you can seeno wings, no wing pads and no long tail filaments; only a short pair of rear appendagesMDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG, UMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS
- What argues against ita body flattened side to side, lying over on its flank, is a scud rather than a sowbugMDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG, WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE
- What argues against ita body curved from head to tail that swims or crawls on its side is a scudEPA-MACROINVERT-FIELD-GUIDE, WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE
- What argues against itthree pairs of legs, or any wing pads, put the animal among the insectsWV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE
- What argues against itlarge pincers, much bigger than the walking legs, point to a crayfishUMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS, WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE
- Declared limitA sowbug result is the family level. It does not separate Caecidotea from Asellus, and it does not distinguish a surface-water animal from a groundwater one.MDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG
- Declared limitSize is not a stage cue here: every stage looks the same, so a 6 mm animal and a 19 mm animal are the same shape and tell you nothing about age.MDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG, MAINE-DEP-SOWBUG
- Declared limitSowbugs are described as crawlers, and no source consulted addresses whether they drift. This record says nothing about when one would be available in the drift.MDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG
- Size bandadult: 5-20 mmMAINE-DEP-SOWBUG, NMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC, MDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG, UMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS
- Water typespringrecord’s sources
- Water typestreamrecord’s sources
- Water typeriverrecord’s sources
- Water typelake-marginrecord’s sources
- Life stageadultrecord’s sources
- Where it sitsunder rocks, wood and debris on the bottomMDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG, MAINE-DEP-SOWBUG
- Where it sitsamong sediment and vegetation in seeps and spring branchesMAINE-DEP-SOWBUG
- How it movesslow deliberate crawl over rock and woodMDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG
- How it movescrawls flat along the bottom, back uppermost, rather than on its sideEPA-MACROINVERT-FIELD-GUIDEEvidence from: Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho)
- Sources disagreeFront-leg form differs by source. Missouri describes seven pairs of walking legs all pretty much the same; West Virginia's card says the first two may be claw-like, and the Upper Midwest guide says the first pair is claw-like.record’s sources
- Missouri Department of ConservationMDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG · State · read 2026-09-06
- Maine Department of Environmental ProtectionMAINE-DEP-SOWBUG · State · read 2026-09-06
- New Mexico State University ExtensionNMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC · University · read 2026-09-06
- West Virginia Department of Environmental ProtectionWV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE · State · read 2026-08-24
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10 (prepared by the Xerces Society)EPA-MACROINVERT-FIELD-GUIDE · National · read 2026-09-25
- Water Resources Center, University of MinnesotaUMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS · University · read 2026-09-25
The pages themselves
All 224, and what each one is holding up.
- Maine Department of Environmental Protection
MAINE-DEP-SOWBUG
- Missouri Department of Conservation
MDC-AQUATIC-SOWBUG
- New Mexico State University Extension
NMSU-EXT-CR677-BENTHIC
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10 (prepared by the Xerces Society)
EPA-MACROINVERT-FIELD-GUIDE
- Water Resources Center, University of Minnesota
UMW-AQUATIC-INVERTS
- West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
WV-DEP-BENTHIC-GUIDE
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