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Catch these Animal Crossing: New Horizons bugs and fish before August ends

Say bye to all those cicadas and beetles

An Animal Crossing character holds up a freshly caught frog Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
Julia Lee (she/her) is a guides producer, writing guides for games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Genshin Impact. She helped launch the Rift Herald in 2016.

August is coming to an end, which means some of the critters in Animal Crossing: New Horizons are going to vanish.

To help make sure you grab what you can before they disappear, we’ve put together a list of things to hunt down and fill out the the Museum.

While folks who time travel don’t have as much to worry about when it comes to catching this variety of bugs, people playing by the day will not want to wait months to continue their collection.

For fish, we recommend using bait, crafted using the manila clams that you can dig up on the beach, to quickly spawn fish in the desired location. Simply make the bait at your crafting table and toss it into the water from your inventory.

The Northern Hemisphere is losing a ton of critters, including cicadas and nearly all the exotic beetles. The Southern Hemisphere isn’t saying goodbye to much, some of the sea creatures that can only be caught by diving are leaving.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons critters leaving after August (Northern Hemisphere)

Critter Type Name Location Size Time
Critter Type Name Location Size Time
Bug Common Bluebottle Flying N/A 4 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Bug Great Purple Emperor Flying N/A 4 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Bug Brown Cicada On trees N/A 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Bug Robust Cicada On trees N/A 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Bug Giant Cicada On trees N/A 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Bug Evening Cicada On trees N/A 4 a.m. - 8 a.m., 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Bug Cicada Shell On trees N/A All day
Bug Jewel Beetle On tree stumps N/A All day
Bug Blue Weevil Beetle On coconut trees N/A All day
Bug Scarab Beetle On trees N/A 11 p.m. - 8 a.m.
Bug Drone Beetle On trees N/A All day
Bug Saw Stag On trees N/A All day
Bug Miyama Stag On trees N/A All day
Bug Giant Stag On trees N/A 11 p.m. - 8 a.m.
Bug Cyclommatus Stag On coconut trees N/A 5 p.m. - 8 a.m.
Bug Golden Stag On coconut trees N/A 5 p.m. - 8 a.m.
Bug Giraffe Stag On coconut trees N/A 5 p.m. - 8 a.m.
Bug Horned Dynastid On trees N/A 5 p.m. - 8 a.m.
Bug Horned Atlas On coconut trees N/A 5 p.m. - 8 a.m.
Bug Horned Elephant On coconut trees N/A 5 p.m. - 8 a.m.
Bug Horned Herucles On coconut trees N/A 5 p.m. - 8 a.m.
Bug Walking Leaf Near trees, disguised as furniture leaf N/A All day
Fish Killifish Pond Smallest All day
Fish Frog Pond Small All day
Fish Giant Snakehead Pond X Large 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Fish Napoleonfish Sea Largest 4 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Fish Squid Sea Medium All day
Sea creature Vampire squid Ocean diving N/A 4 p.m. - 9 a.m.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons critters leaving after August (Southern Hemisphere)

Critter Type Name Location Size Time
Critter Type Name Location Size Time
Bug Raja Brooke's Birdwing Flying by purple flowers N/A 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Bug Damselfly Flying N/A All day
Bug Dung Beetle Pushing snowballs N/A All day
Fish Pond Smelt River Small All day
Fish Blowfish Sea Medium 9 p.m. - 4 a.m.
Sea creature Sea pig Ocean diving N/A 4 p.m. - 9 a .m.
Sea creature Oyster Ocean diving N/A All day
Sea creature Sweet shrimp Ocean diving N/A 4 p.m. - 9 a.m.
Sea creature Venus' flower basket Ocean diving N/A All day

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