On December 13, 2011,  we conducted the Black Warrior Waterdog survey. The river was packed with leaves, which is a good sign.  In the first leaf pack we netted there was a small larval waterdog. That was good news! This means that from our surveys last year, the adults in this population are successfully breeding. We found a few other salamanders that are sympatric  with N. alabamensis; the Northern Red Salamander (Pseudotriton ruber ruber), Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus sp.), and Two-lined Salamanders (Eurycea cirrigera).

We were almost a third of the way upstream and we were no longer finding waterdogs. The season seemed a little behind what we observed last year. It was warmer outside, even though the water temperature was still pretty cold.  And, the leaf packs were still fresh – the leaves weren’t decomposed yet. In the past, we’ve noticed the waterdogs like to be near the shore line and in leaf packs that are more decomposed.  We continued to push further upstream; farther than we’ve ever found waterdogs before.

Surprisingly we found two larvae.  We found five total.

On December 12, 2011, Erik Keyster, John Staubach, and I  left the Cincinnati Zoo at 11:00 am and headed to Alabama for another Black Warrior Waterdog survey. Our first stop was East Central Alabama and the Cahaba River Drainage.

Upon arrival, we noticed that the wooden bridge above the creek smelled like creosote. We were afraid that if there was a waterdog population in the creek, the creosote might have negatively impacted it. We saw a few leaf piles near the banks of the creek and we began dip netting. John found the first larvae! We continued to dip-net and eventually found a total of 6 waterdogs.

Success!

Unfortunately, the two creeks in the Mobile River Drainage, where the TYPE and PARATYPE species of Necturus lödingi have been found, were covered with trash. Luckily, we had one other creek to examine. From a bridge overlooking the creek, we noticed a tiny leaf pack on a semi-steep bank about 20-feet up the creek. Within the first scoop, we caught two, then three, and then four waterdogs! While there wasn’t much further north, once we headed down stream we found another leaf pack. Again, two, then three waterdogs!

In total, we captured 16 juvenile waterdogs and 1 adult. [Read more →]