Troutnut.com User Troutnut

I love this "above & below" landscape from a popular Catskill trout stream. The picture is not doctored to show both perspectives. Instead, my Pentax Optio WPi digital camera is able to take pictures with the tiny lens half-in, half-out of the water.

This Epeorus pleuralis nymph tried to hatch into a dun while attached to this rock and apparently got stuck. This species is supposed to emerge from its nymphal shuck (

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Here's an underwater view of the pupal shucks of several already-emerged Brachycentrus numerosus caddisflies.

Shuck: The shed exoskeleton left over when an insect molts into its next stage or instar. Most often it describes the last nymphal or pupal skin exited during emergence into a winged adult.) on the bottom of the stream and swim to the surface as a bedraggled dun. It seems more like this one was trying to crawl out onto a rock to emerge. The rock itself is covered with a thin layer of fast water in a riffle, and apparently it prevented the dun from making any headway. You can see the dun's eyes and a bit of the mesonotum (Mesonotum: The top of the insect mesothorax.) if you look closely.

In this picture: Mayfly Species Epeorus pleuralis (Quill Gordon).

I captured this sunset over one of my favorite holes.