Punta del Diablo fishery

My husband, Benjamin Gedan, author of the small state blog, made this short video about the fishermen and seafood we saw (and ate!) in Punta del Diablo, Uruguay, a small fishing village on the South American Atlantic coast. I loved seeing the fisherman haul their boats ashore and peeking at their fresh catch. However, I was dismayed to see that several small hammerhead sharks were caught as bycatch (non-target catch). Shark populations are in decline worldwide, largely due to sharkfin fisheries. The sharks are not eaten in Uruguay. The bycatch hammerheads were tossed off to some young boys to play with.

Perrito del agua

On a recent trip along the Atlantic coast of Uruguay, these nocturnal insects appeared one night by the dozens. An Uruguayan native called them "perritos del agua" (little water dogs) because they supposedly emerge prior to a rain. The book Latin American Insects and Entomology notes that dobsonfly larvae are often called "perros del agua." It doesn't look like an adult dobsonfly, but the black claw-like extensions on the first leg and the short translucent wings seem characteristic enough. All the individuals I saw were approximately 5 cm long. Anyone recognize this bugger?


Update 1/5/09: Prof. Doug Morse suggested that it might be a mole cricket. I'm sure he's right. See another photo of a mole cricket on Wikipedia.