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Lateral view of a Male Baetis (Baetidae) (Blue-Winged Olive) Mayfly Dun from Mystery Creek #43 in New York
Blue-winged Olives
Baetis

Tiny Baetis mayflies are perhaps the most commonly encountered and imitated by anglers on all American trout streams due to their great abundance, widespread distribution, and trout-friendly emergence habits.

Case view of a Pycnopsyche guttifera (Limnephilidae) (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington
It's only barely visible in one of my pictures, but I confirmed under the microscope that this one has a prosternal horn and the antennae are mid-way between the eyes and front of the head capsule.

I'm calling this one Pycnopsyche, but it's a bit perplexing. It seems to key definitively to at least Couplet 8 of the Key to Genera of Limnephilidae Larvae. That narrows it down to three genera, and the case seems wrong for the other two. The case looks right for Pycnopsyche, and it fits one of the key characteristics: "Abdominal sternum II without chloride epithelium and abdominal segment IX with only single seta on each side of dorsal sclerite." However, the characteristic "metanotal sa1 sclerites not fused, although often contiguous" does not seem to fit well. Those sclerites sure look fused to me, although I can make out a thin groove in the touching halves in the anterior half under the microscope. Perhaps this is a regional variation.

The only species of Pycnopsyche documented in Washington state is Pycnopsyche guttifera, and the colors and markings around the head of this specimen seem to match very well a specimen of that species from Massachusetts on Bugguide. So I am placing it in that species for now.

Whatever species this is, I photographed another specimen of seemingly the same species from the same spot a couple months later.
27" brown trout, my largest ever. It was the sub-dominant fish in its pool. After this, I hooked the bigger one, but I couldn't land it.
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Freshwater Invertebrate Underwater Pictures

Freshwater Invertebrate Underwater Pictures

Underwater photos of freshwater invertebrates in their natural habitat.

Hundreds of cased caddisfly larvae live on this log in a small brook trout stream.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
A crayfish chews on a Hexagenia limbata nymph shortly after a small Hex emergence.  I didn't catch any fish, but playing around with my flashlight and camera in the rocks proved productive.
The East Branch of Trout Brook in New York
I tried to photograph this salamander but it kept scurrying away from the camera.  The rocks in this little backwater are covered with a thin layer of very easily disturbed silt, so anywhere I followed it I didn't have much time to photograph before the water was too turbid for a good shot.  This is the best I got.

From the East Branch of Trout Brook in New York
Despite the late date in the season, several caddisfly larvae remain on the rocks in this river.

From the Neversink River in New York
These are glossosomatids, Jason.  They are probably Glossosoma nigrior, though it is possible that we are looking at mixed species.  The ones to the right with their aggregate of similar sized grains are classic Glossosoma, while the ones to the left with the large anchor pebbles could possibly be Agapetus.  Regardless, they're all commonly referred to as saddle case makers.

From Spring Creek in Wisconsin
Here's the surface of the river viewed from below during a Tricorythodes spinner fall.  Several dead spinners are visible.
The large caddisfly case (really less than 1/2 inch) is a Brachycentridae larva.  The other cases are actually the protective sheaths of black fly (Simuliidae) pupae.  The two antler-like pieces sticking out of each one are not legs, but antennal sheaths.

From Spring Creek in Wisconsin
The Gulkana River in Alaska
The Mystery Creek # 23 in New York
The Mystery Creek # 23 in New York
I got a nice picture of the pool these salamander larvae inhabit a few weeks later.

From the Mystery Creek # 23 in New York
I spotted this very large leech freely tumbling, and occasionally stopping, along the bottom of a clear, cool trout stream.  I paid careful attention later and spotted two more like it, but this one was the largest -- probably over 7 inches stretched out.

There is one other picture of it.
These are probably 3rd instar larvae of Dicosmoecus gilvipes. The 4th instar larvae will be the round case made of sand grains.

From the Touchet River in Washington
Spring Creek in Wisconsin
This is my favorite underwater picture so far. It shows a bunch of Simuliidae (black fly) larvae clinging to a rock and swinging in the fast current. There are also at least four visible mayfly nymphs, probably in the family Baetidae.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Spring Creek in Wisconsin
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