A couple of Alabama caudates

Nice pictures!

Have you ever came across the Black Warrior Waterdog (Necturus alabamensis) in the Black Warrior River drainage in Northern Alabama by any chance?
 
I plan on spending some time in that area this summer looking for caudates. I'll of course post if I have any success.
sidenote, over easter I happened to find a dead 3-toed amphiuma in a dried ditch in leflore county, MS (in the delta). It sort of surprised me because that ditch gets full sun, and under the months of +100 degree days, the ditch dries out for a couple of weeks at a time.
 
Well ampiumas can travel over land during wet cold nights. So maybe it came from a nearby pond that had more water and needed more food.
 
Also, amphiumas can survive drought (even the total drying-up of their pond) by burrowing into mud and forming a mucous cocoon around themselves. Perhaps the one that died did not have enough mud to burrow into, or had some other problem.
 
I didn't know that ampiumas could burrow underground like that, I thought only sirens could.

Russ, if you ever get a chance that would be so cool because that species of Necturus is rare.
 
hehe. Ryan-if you watched that Extreme Amphibians show they show a dried up lake with Amphiumas underneath it in the ground.
 
By the way awesome pictures Russ!
happy.gif
 
I did watch that show, but it was a while back.
 
Thanks for the comments.

Ryan, is it rare, or rarely seen/reported? That is a term misused an aweful lot.
 
 
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