Yesterday we found this little guy in the stream behind our property. We are fairly certain that he is a Mudpuppy - he does have four toes on his hind feet. We are pretty certain that he is a juvenille - he's very small - about 3.5 inches. He could be a Carolina Mudpuppy Necturus lewisi because his pattern is more contrasting than other species of mudpuppies. He doesn't have the heavily spotted pattern of that species, but the juveniles don't. Our guide says that juveniles of this species lack the median dark stripe of the juveniles of some other species of mudpuppies (we saw pictures of these and there is a definate dark stripe running down the spine which our little guy doesn't have). It also says that the dark spots form gradually in juveniles. How long are they juveniles? They don't reach maturity until 6 years of age and are thought to live as long as 18 years!
The main problem with this identification is that it is out of the range that my guide allows for this mudpuppy. It gives the range in the Neuse and Tar river basins which are quite a bit further east than Charlotte.
The only other Mudpuppy that fits the description of this little guy is the Dwarf Mudpuppy Necturus punctatus. Their range is quite a bit larger than lewisi, but it still doesn't reach as far west as Charlotte. The gills of our fellow do look more like the gills of punctatus, but the photo in our guide is not a great one. The other argument for this species is the size of the spots - it has smaller spots than lewisi, and also it is said to inhabit smaller streams than lewisi. Our stream is definately very small - in a hot dry summer it dries up except for the deepest pools.
In fact - there are no mudpuppies listed as having a range into Mecklenurg county in our guide. Do you think we've misidentified it? If you have thoughts, corrections, or insights leave a comment!
3 comments:
That's a great photo of the external gills. Did you look at the Davidson herp lab website?
We did check the herpsofnc.org site. The information and pictures there are pretty much in keeping with our Amphibians of the Carolinas guide. Before we release him today we are going to count his toes again just to make sure. Is there a possibility that he could be a nymph phase of another salamander - do any of them have external gills like that?
Amber, I think that mudpuppy's have bright red gills that are much more prominent than those on this salamander. Most salamanders have external gills that are lost during the juvenile stage. I would submit the photo to the herp center at Davidson and see what the say. Most likely it is a juvenile phase; the coloration is often dramatically different between juvenile and adult phases. Great photos!. Which one of the boys found this one?
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