The aquatic larva of a dobsonfly; a dark, segmented creature with long tentacles, commonly used as fishing bait in freshwater streams.
Origin unknown, possibly from dialectal or regional American speech. Some suggest it combines 'hell' (from its ugly appearance) with a corruption of 'grammarye' (an old word for magic), or from Native American languages.
Hellgrammites look absolutely alien—they're like nightmare creatures with their long tentacles and armor-like bodies. Fishermen love them because fish go crazy for them, but holding one feels like you're handling something from another world. They're one of nature's most effective hunting machines in streams.
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