| When you look at a river, what do you see? A | | | | much like the slimy villain in the Alien movies, dart |
| few flies on top? A fish or two? | | | | from place to place with the deftness of little |
| Look closer. | | | | minnows and take up station to catch food |
| Lay down on your chest at the side of the river | | | | drifting by in the current. And below the ground, |
| and stare down into it. Look at a rock or a stick. | | | | burrowing mayfly nymphs dig lairs with their |
| Not very interesting? Keep looking. | | | | powerful tusks from which they emerge only at |
| Soon, you begin to notice things that don't seem | | | | night to prowl for food. All hope to avoid the |
| to belong. Sticks don't come with little tubes of | | | | gaping jaws of a big, ugly, prowling dragonfly |
| sand attached. What's that black bump? Oh, it's | | | | nymph. |
| moving. It's... grazing? Every stream holds a tiny | | | | Until now, it was hard to observe this underwater |
| alien world, packed with creatures unlike anything | | | | world without getting very cold and very wet. But |
| we see on land. | | | | a new website, Troutnut.com, has brought |
| Clinging mayfly and stonefly nymphs graze like | | | | detailed photographs and videos of this intriguing |
| tiny cattle on the algae and microscopic animals | | | | world and its residents to the comfort of your |
| that cover every twig and rock. Sinister damselfly | | | | computer desk. |
| nymphs hunt them with a creepy, deliberate | | | | The website was sparked by the sport of fly |
| stalking posture reminiscent of both a prowling | | | | fishing, in which trout anglers craft realistic |
| cheetah and killer robots from the future in some | | | | imitations of tiny stream creatures from an |
| cheap sci-fi flick. | | | | intimidating mess of fur and feathers, and present |
| Caddisfly larvae build intricate houses of tiny | | | | their imitations delicately, even artistically. For |
| stones and debris, which the tiny carpenters drag | | | | them, better pictures of the real thing mean |
| around with them like a shell. Colonies of them | | | | better imitations and more trout. But |
| gather on various twigs and rocks, little housing | | | | Troutnut.com's quest for more and bigger trout |
| subdivisions in a tiny underwater town. | | | | has led to a glimpse at this alien world that |
| Swimming mayfly nymphs, some of them shaped | | | | anyone can enjoy. |