Land-based arthropods, chiefly insects, made up most of this lady's stock in trade. The most eye-catching exceptions were these acociles (ah-co-See-lays), a Mexican variety of crayfish whose older, Náhuatl name, cuitzilli, means "crooked one of the water" or "squirms in the water." Boiled to a deep scarlet, my small bagful (25 pesos, about $1.25 at the time) were salty, funky, and still curvy, but, thank goodness, no longer squirmy.
Also on offer, but not tasted: tamales de charal, small fish steamed without masa in corn husks.
Small-game vendor
Mercado de la Merced, Mexico City
(From a March 2017 visit)
