A hatchling loggerhead musk turtle.
Carl called across the river “Remember, they look like acorns.”

What, I wondered was he going on about now?

Then it dawned on me. We were only a few minutes from docking and Carl was likening the hatchling loggerhead musk turtles, Sternotherus m. minor, for which we were then searching to a submerged acorn. Well, it’s true that they are darn near small enough, and when the roughened carapace is muddied by the perpetually silted water in which we were then searching the tiny turtles are almost acorn colored. So as far as it went his comment was a fair analogy. But turn one upside down and you’ll find 4 black spotted olive-tan legs, and a similarly colored head, neck, and tail, protruding from a very unacornlike, flat, rich orange-red, cross-shaped, plastron.

Finally, just before docking the canoes, Carl saw one of the acorns. And just about at the same time I happened upon an adult, which, by the way, looks nothing at all like an acorn and is much duller in color than the hatchling, but is still enjoyable to find. Give it a try sometime. The search can be a whole lot more fulfilling than sitting home and taking a selfie!