DES ALLEMANDS (AP) — Whirligig beetles skittering atop the slow water of Bayou Des Allemands were the first target of an evening bug hunt for the Audubon Insectarium as scientists sought to replenish its stock of swamp-swimmers.

Each of the bugs was only three-eighths of an inch long, but ripples from hundreds of random darts and circles along the bank showed up across the bayou.

The beetles, with their compound eyes divided to see both above and below the water, are tough to snag as singletons, said Jayme Necaise, the New Orleans museum’s director of animal and

visitor programs.