February 17th, 2007
a magnificent Mudpuppy Night
Last night, Don and I packed up the aquarium, flashlights, and my camera gear and headed off to the weekly Mudpuppy Night down by the dam at Oxford Mills. To save some space, here’s a link to my report from the last Mudpuppy Night attended, which gives some background info for those who aren’t familiar with the event, or with Mudpuppy salamanders (Necturus maculosus). Our trip was one of those last minute decision kind of things. At 5:15 p.m., we received an email from Fred Schueler (via the Eastern Ontario Natural History list-serve) proclaiming that:
the low water and extensive glamourous ice, along with the -7C temperatures they’tre talking about on the Radio right now, suggests a magnificent Mudpuppy Night
And, indeed, it was a magnificent Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills. About a dozen of us descended to the snow and ice-covered ledges along Kemptville Creek. Don lugged our aquarium down and set it up for the benefit of the photographers and spectators in attendance. I’ve included some photographer’s notes down below, for those who would like to know more about shooting photos under somewhat hostile conditions.
Several individuals clad in hip waders and/or tall boots descended into the approximately knee-deep water to count salamanders. Jennifer Schueler, being of good, hardy stock, and much more intrepid than most of us, peeled off her shoes and socks and went wading barefoot. Chilly as that may sound, once you’re into the water, it’s often considerably warmer than the air. However, from my own experience with such things, it’s the coming back out that’s a bit of a drag.
In any case, yes, indeed, we did see Mudpuppies last night — many of them. On one of my movie clips, a certain individual (I believe I know which one) exclaimed:
They’re just super-caulking out here. I’ve never seen numbers — I mean, it’s just magical!
We camera buffs continued to shoot photos of three salamanders netted and placed in the aquarium. This time, we added extra water, which allowed the salamanders to do more swimming than on the last occasion. I’ve uploaded a couple of movie clips from last night. The first is of the three salamanders moving about quite actively (the clip is about 1.5MB). A couple of things to watch for — the largest of the salamanders has a deformed left hind leg (more about that below). Also, note how the salamanders move when they are walking, and then swimming. When swimming, they put their legs back and propel themselves with their strong tails. When swimming, they seem rather like eels. The second movie clip is of the largest salamander doing more swimming than walking (clip is about 670kb).
As mentioned above, the largest of the Mudpuppies had a deformed left hind leg. This can be seen in the above photo (click on all photos for a larger view). I mentioned this to Fred and he said it could have been from an injury, or be a congenital defect, or that the leg is only partially regenerated following a past injury. Several of us had some questions about limb regeneration in Mudpuppies, and perhaps Fred will comment on this if he posts some notes to this piece. I did look around for something online about regeneration of limbs in Necturus maculosus, and found this short but interesting reference, by Andree D. Gendron, of the Dept des Sciences Biologiques, Universite du Quebec a Montreal. It concerns the effects of environmental contaminants on reproduction and development of populations of mudpuppies, and the possibility of pollutants interfering with limb development in larvae, or regeneration of injured limbs. Again, perhaps Fred will be able to comment (see Update added just below).
At the end of the session, I asked Fred what the count was for the night and he said approximately 110 (corrected up to 128). That’s an excellent number of Mudpuppies for one session, so I believe magnificent is a good description for last evening. For those who might be interested, I’ve posted a few other photos from this session in my online gallery.
Update to the above: Fred Schueler has just added his field notes for Feb. 16 (see comments down below). I’m moving his comment about the deformities up here. He writes:
* Bev asked about deformities. High levels of deformities have been recorded in the [polluted] St Lawrence, and we see few in Kemptville Creek, but, as anyone can imagine, with 120 Mudpuppies in the stream and 20 Human People on the banks, there’s not time to count the toes on each Mudpuppy. We’ve been trolling for two decades now for some student to undertake a proper study of this population, which would include documenting levels of deformities, as well as movements and phenology, but nobody has come forward…
Photographer’s Notes: After several attempts at photographing these aquatic salamanders, we’ve learned a few useful things. First, it’s good to put some kind of vinyl or other sheet down on the snow before setting the aquarium in place. That keeps the aquarium free of snow right down to the bottom of the glass. Also important, is to bring along a jug or two of warm water to add sparingly to the icy river water. That will prevent a jello-like film of ice from immediately forming over the surface of the water. It also slows down the surface fogging on the aquarium glass. Bring along a towel to wipe the outer side of the aquarium glass from tme to time. A soup ladle works well for skimming away debris in the water. The best lighting without causing too much glare appears to be provided by the hand-gun shaped Noma rechargeable flashlight turned to the Xenon lamp setting. With a camera or DVcamcorder set in movie mode, that seems to provide plenty of light. In fact, most times, I find it adequate for still photos when shooting through the sides of the aquarium. If you use a flash while shooting at an aquarium…well… not too surprisingly… you get a nice photo of a flash. The quality of the movie clips and still photos seems to be improving with each attempt, so we’ll continue with our experimentation.
Tags: Necturus maculosus, Mudpuppy salamander, Oxford Mills, Bishops Mills Natural History Centre
February 17th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
“I asked Fred what the count was for the night and he said approximately 110. That’s an excellent number of Mudpuppies for one session, so I believe magnificent is a good description for last evening.”
And the mudpuppies are not too shabby, either.
I finally had some time to read the history of the night. It’s a terrific story. I fantasize about such possibilities in New York City, which has a “Forever Wild” program to preserve undisturbed natural areas within the city, of which there are remarkably many.
Two quotes from the history writeup really caught my eye:
“… if the ice gives way under you, preserve an expression of imperturbability, as if you had planned any breakage as a means of removing ice.”
Always good advice.
“If we’re going to make progress in herpetological conservation, we must make People aware of the herpetofauna they live with, and forge totemic relationships with rare and distinctive populations.”
“Totemic relationships” … conjurs up so much for me. Not only my childhood in Florida, herpeto-paradise, but the relationships I forge now with the wildlife here in Brooklyn. For the world to survive us, people need to be able to forge these relationships whereever they live, even – especially – in urban areas.
February 17th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Excellent photos and videos, I’ll have to read this twice to soak up all the information. I also read Fred’s posts to the listerv, though some parts to cryptic for my level of understanding, always interesting.
I was watching a show on endangered Lake Erie water snakes recently, mudpuppies are one of their primary food sources.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
What an incredibly successful evening. A rather hearty and intrepid bunch you are to undertake such a thing in those wet and frozen conditons. The videos are great, and fantastic info about to shoot into an aquarium at night.
Roger and I took a “marine mammal stranding” class today. We learned how to identify stranded marine mammals. I had thought it was to assist in rescuing them, but as it turns out it’s mostly to record condition at death, or to keep dogs and humans away from harbor seal pups who are routinely left onshore while mom hunts for food. If we are ever called out at night, your photography hints will definitely come in handy!
February 17th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Xris – The mudpuppies are very neat creatures. With your interest in herps, I’m sure you would enjoy seeing them. I very much agree with you about getting people to take an interest in, or build a relationship with wildlife that is present, even in the cities. In fact, it’s probably even more critical that urban dwellers gain a better appreciation for wildlife as, ultimately, that’s where the “policy” is being made that has such a sweeping effect on the surrounding countryside. I think it’s good to try to think of ways to educate people…even if they are just small scale projects. Every bit helps.
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Peter – Thanks! I keep working at ways of photographing different things and it’s nice when things seem to be improving. Interesting about the water snakes. I guess it’s yet another case of one creature being a thread within the larger tapestry.
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robin – Sounds like you had quite a day yourself. I expect you’ve already learned quite a bit. One thing builds upon another. The part about “recording” is so important. I subscribe to a nature listserv from Nova Scotia (Peter in the comment above yours also belongs to it) – and it’s interesting to read posts from those who find dead seals, pelagic birds, whales, etc… The information gets posted to the list and usually brings an almost immediate response from someone at the NS natural history museum, or in one of the marine biology departments at the universities. Often, someone goes out to gather data, collect specimens, etc.. The role of naturalists is very important in getting info to the right people a.s.a.p. Anyhow, neat! I’m sure this will be an interesting experience for the two of you..
February 18th, 2007 at 12:53 am
What a fantastic creature. The word ‘fantastic’ really applies to these odd beings. It’s interesting that given your knowledge and appreciation of so many facets of nature that you probably don’t experience the visceral, reflexive ‘yuck!’ ‘Yipe’ or ‘Eeeek!’ that the uninitiated observer might. (That would be moi – esp. regarding spiders)
What about the temperament inclination of Mudpuppies? How do they respond to their capture?
February 18th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Cathy – You’re right… I don’t usually experience a visceral “eek” or “yuck” response. More often, it’s a feeling of excitement over seeing something neat. I think the only thing I find a bit creepy are things like maggots. Yup, those do seem to bring out a bit of the “yuck” response.
Regarding the Mudpuppies, they’re fairly active when we see them, so if you put one in an aquarium or pail, it usually keep on the move, with periodic pauses. They can be held in the hand. I don’t think anyone has ever been bitten by one at a Mudpuppy Night. They do eat frogs and similar prey, so their jaws are quite large, but all in all, they seem to be quite docile any time I’ve seen someone holding one.
February 18th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
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16 February 2007
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Canada: Ontario: Grenville County: Oxford-on-Rideau: Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. 31B/13, UTM 18TVE47 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2002-2055. AIR TEMP: circa -5C, clear, breezy. HABITAT: freezing-over brown-water creek at limestone flats below old milldam. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Jennifer Helene Schueler, Brian Day, Wes von Papineau, Don & Bev Wigney, ++. 2007/013/aa, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy) (herp). 128 adult, seen, dipnetted, photo. seen in Mudpuppy Night outing with lights & wading. Wes brought Dr. Jen Rowland of NDHQ’s Directorate of Environment & Major Tony Marston who has long heard about Wes’ Mud Puppy ‘adventures,’ Clay Shearer came for the first time, Judy & Adrian Courteau dipnetted up some individuals from shore ice, and Cheryl Doran arrived after the rest of us had left the site, but joined us in the Brigadoon.
This afternoon I’d written to the lists:
“the low water and extensive glamourous ice, along with the -7 C temperatures they’re talking about on the Radio right now, suggests a magnificent Mudpuppy Night. ”
…and this certainly proved to be the case. Ice was complete both above and below the bridge this week, with extensive shelves, 3-6 cm thick, over the lower west side flats, and over most of the east side under the overhanging trees. Necturus were deployed densely in the moss of the main current, and under the ice shelf on the west side, as well as caulked under the east side spillway ledge.
16 seen from ice-covered Vantage Point ledge
35 seen in wading across the main current (upstream)
22 under east side spillway ledge
35 seen in wading across the main current (downstream)
about 20 under the 100 sg m of ice that Wes and I broke away under the west side (this may be an underestimate — and the wading-across counts may contain some duplicates).
There were quite a few both large (ca 30 cm) and small (ca 13 cm) among the multitude, and I saw about 15 pairs in close parallel positions, mostly of medium size. This may not be more than expected, given the large total number. Two mysterious white egg-shaped objects on the bottom proved to be lead fishing weights. There’s a wider than usual growth of moss in the main current this year. The main current was shifted towards the east side tonight.
2007/013/ab, Orconectes virilis (Northern Crayfish) (Crayfish). 1 adult, seen. on W side flats, among many Necturus.
2007/013/ac, Perca flavescens (Yellow Perch) (fish). 1 juvenile, seen. ca 10 cm TL, on W side flats, among many Necturus. Described as “Perch-like, barred, laterally compressed” by Wes, and identification accepted despite his “not being a fish expert.”
* Bev asked about deformities. High levels of deformities have been recorded in the [polluted] St Lawrence, and we see few in Kemptville Creek, but, as anyone can imagine, with 120 Mudpuppies in the stream and 20 Human People on the banks, there’s not time to count the toes on each Mudpuppy. We’ve been trolling for two decades now for some student to undertake a proper study of this population, which would include documenting levels of deformities, as well as movements and phenology, but nobody has come forward…
February 18th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
HI! I’d count Mud Puppies! The “gill feathers” (?) reminded me of a Pacific Giant Salamander my kids and I found in a stream once, it had the same feathers, marking it as a “stuck” in juvenile larval stage(something like that)where it grows to monster size–at least 12″ long. It was like seeing a dinosaur. It was very lazy until we tried to catch it, then it was gone in a flash(of course). Its feathers were the size of the palm on my hand. Very freaky weird but very cool.
February 18th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
I absolutely love the first picture! I’ve always liked mud puppies from afar. Seeing the particular one you took pictures of in the tank, I can see that the mud puppie is very active and energetic. I like the first one, perphaps the charm in its salamanderish smile…
February 18th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Good grief. I never considered that they were carnivores and cold take a piece of finger with them.(I’m sure you must have mentioned that in an earlier piece) – their sweet little smile is so disarming.
February 19th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Cathy – I don’t think you would have to fear about fingers, but mudpuppies do eat things like aquatic insects, small fish, and frogs. Aquatic environments tend to be “eat AND be eaten” kinds of places. Mudpuppies are often the prey of larger fish and, as Peter mentioned above, I guess watersnakes as well. The mudpuppies do have a sweet little smile and there’s no particular reason to fear it — unless you’re a frog or a minnow. (-:
February 19th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
As usual, extremely interesting and informative. You may have indicated in your posting and I missed it…what do you do with the mud puppies at the end of the evening? I assume you simply return them to the water…correct?
February 19th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
John – Yes, there’s no reason to keep them, so they go back into the river. In fact, on many nights, the mudpuppies are just counted and none are looked at or photographed. In any case, there’s really no practical way to keep them out of the creek for an extended length of time as they don’t take well to being in warm water. Btw, in summer when the water warms up, these salamanders move to deeper water, which is why it’s not possible to see or study them once winter is over. As they’re also nocturnal, that makes it difficult to study them — night time in shallow, fast-moving, ice-covered creeks is the only practical time and place that anyone can actually have much hope of observing them.
February 19th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Celeste – Yes, there’s something a little dinosaur-like about these aquatic salamanders. Perhaps it’s their shape and the jaws and the large gills. However, the thing that is incredibly beautiful about them is how they move — when walking through the water, they seem weightless and half float and half walk. And yet, they can switch to swimming in a flash when they put their legs along their sides and propel themselves with their tails. They’re very strong and agile swimmers.
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Laiku – They do have a certain charm about them, which is probably why quite a few people in this region are now becoming interested in them – and hopefully, by extension, also in their welfare. It’s important for people to know that such creatures are in the rivers, and that decisions about things such as water-taking for human purposes (say, for such as things like golf courses) can have an effect on the natural ecology and populations of aquatic creatures such as fish, frogs and these aquatic salamanders.
February 19th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Seeing the second and third picture again, they are very lithe and flexible. I like the sight!
February 19th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Laiku – Yes, they are. Their bodies are very flexible and they can curl right around. They aren’t so ponderous as they might at first appear. They seem almost weightless when moving through water. Quite interesting.
February 20th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
They look to me like…maybe surf dudies. =-)
February 24th, 2007 at 5:22 am
Any idea what’s driving these amphibians into activity this time of year? Breeding? I’ve been finding a ton of rough-skinned newts out my way lately.
February 24th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Matt – In our area, these aquatic salamander are mainly interested in food at this time of the year. They prefer cold water and in summer, they spend tiime in deeper water, but in winter, they will move to shallow water if they can find abundant food. They’re active all year round, but I think they probably change their feeding territory when conditions are better in one place than to another. Out your way, I would think the newts would probably be breeding in ponds and similar places right about now. Here, we still have about a foot of snow on the ground, so most of the terrestrial salamanders, etc.. won’t be active for awhile yet
February 24th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Greetings from an envious person: I wonder where I could find mud puppies in the Hamilton/Dundas/Brantford area. It sounds like an exciting adventure even though I am not sure about wading about in water at this time of year. I joined the listserv a couple of weeks ago and am impressed by the level of activity up your way at this time of year. I have not left any messages there as I am way out of territory but I am enjoying reading. (Just back from a trip about 800+ km north. Cold up there but less snow than usual.)
February 25th, 2007 at 2:25 am
OW – I’m not sure about the chances of seeing mudpuppies down your way. You could email Fred and ask if he has any records for creeks in your area. However, I suspect there isn’t too much as Fred is probably the only person who has been monitoring a population for any period of time. If you know of a similar site, you could do some searching around to see what you could find. The Oxford Mills site is on the lower side of a dam on a year round creek with relatively clean water that flows on downward a few kilometers and eventually reaches the Rideau River. Flow of the water is over flat shelves of limestone. In late winter, the creek is about rubber boot depth or a little below that. Mudpuppies are present walking and swimming along the edges of the creek and sometimes further out. They’re often hidden under sheets of ice along the banks. As mentioned, I suspect there are no known sites in your area. Occasionally, a group from the Toronto area makes the trek east to see these salamanders. If there were known local populations, they would probably be going there instead.
Btw, glad to hear that you joined the listserv. Even though it’s not your area, you’ll probably find it of interest, especially once more people are out and about reporting things — it’s a little slow in winter. Quite a number of the subscribers are from much farther afield, so you’re not alone.
April 4th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
cool pictures
May 21st, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Hello I am looking for a Wes Papineau who is into Salamanders. He was in the Canadian Military at one point. My husband Mike worked with him if anyone knows of him could you please have him contact us. As we have a few salamanders in our pond here at Boat Bluff Ligthouse and have been wondering what they are. http://www.fogwhistle.ca is the lighthouse site but you can give him my email.. thanks and if you do not know him sorry for the bother…
May 21st, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Charlotte – I’ve forwarded your message along and if all goes right, you’ll hear from Wes about your salamanders.