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Mudpuppies are aquatic salamanders.
Their name comes from the wrong idea that they make a dog-like barking
sound. They don't. They can be found from Canada through the
United States. Salamanders lose
their gills and use lungs when they are adults. Mudpuppies don't.
They stay in the water all their life. Mudpuppies have lungs, but
the lungs provide little use in breathing, mudpuppies spend their whole
life underwater so they need to use their gills to breath. The adult
gills resemble fish gills in many ways, but differ from fish gills in
that they are on the outside. Mudpuppies also get oxygen through
their skin and sometimes they breath air at the surface. |
Salamanders have eyelids. Mudpuppies don't.
Also mudpuppies show parental care. The tend to the eggs after attaching
them to submerged stones and logs. Mudpuppies range in size from 11
inches to 16 inches in length.
Mudpuppies prefer shallow lakes and streams that have slow moving water
and rocks to hide. They eat small fish and many invertebrates like
snails and worms. They can live more than 20 years.
Mudpuppies have both front and back legs.
Fishermen have been known to catch
mudpuppies, sometimes in large numbers, but most often when ice fishing. |
