ID a (Siren?)

[Biollantefan54]

I think this is a siren, I don't have any pictures, my dad described it to me. He supposedly found it in Georgia while he was on vacation. One was about 2-2.5 feet in length, had two legs only, all black, 3 toes on both legs. The other one was about a foot in length and same details. One crawled out of a mud puddle thing and walked on land to a huge puddle. Does anyone know what it is? Thanks!

 

[FrogEyes]

Sirens have four legs, with the hind ones being quite small, and they have four toes on the front.

Amphiumas have two tiny front legs with toes varying by species.

What you have described sounds most like three-toed amphiumas, but three-toed amphiumas aren't known to occur in Georgia.

 

[froggy]

Sirens don't have hind legs....

...but they do have four fingers, so it is likely that you saw Amphiuma. They look quite different, so if you google them you may be able to tell the difference

C

 

[FrogEyes]

You're right, and how I got those reversed, I don't know.

A solid dark color is also typical of Amphiuma, not Siren, but three toes isn't a known option for Georgia, for anything. A dark siren with missing fingers would make sense, but not more than one with ALL digits reduced to three, unless the smallest finger was overlooked. Likewise, perhaps the fingers were over-counted on a two-toed amphiuma. Other possibilities are that the animals didn't come from Georgia, were relocated there, or have previously been overlooked.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

Did it have gills??

 

[Biollantefan54]

I am not sure if it had gills or not. All I know is the 1st one was about 2-2.5 feet long and the other was about a foot long. It was all black but there could be a different shade in there on the underside, perhaps grey all over, close to black at least. I know for sure though, it did not have back legs and it had exactly 3 toes.

 

[Biollantefan54]

I just found out that it does have 'gills'. They are not fluffy and fan out. They are slits like on a fish's.

 

[Biollantefan54]

bump...

 

[jaster]

Well, it's a mixup in my mind. At first thought, my head went to Siren lacertina, the greater siren. They get large. Also, large individuals I have seen get dark and more uniformly colored. A picture would really help. Did he look at it underwater? If it for sure didn't have back legs, I'd stick with the Siren guess.

 

[Biollantefan54]

Don't a have a good pic yet but he saw in in and out of water. it walked about 100 yards on land to a little puddle and stayed there until it dried up. I don't know what it is though.

 

[JoshYoung]

I hate to comment on an old thread, but since the ID was never resolved, it was most likely either a greater or lesser siren.