Great Herping

I’m coming into my third month of working for Corkscrew, and it feels like every time I go out for field work I’m adding a new species to my list of wildlife that I’ve seen. It’s especially exciting whenever I’m able to add a new reptile or amphibian to that list, and the swamp has plenty of those to offer, whether I’m on the boardwalk collecting hydrology data or looking in the minnow traps we’ve set for fish sampling.

 Recently, a Two-toed Amphiuma (Amphiuma means) was caught in one of our traps. To borrow some terminology I’ve picked up from my birding co-worker, this guy was a ‘lifer’ for me. A. means is the longest salamander in the United States, growing up to 4 ft in length. They have tiny vestigial legs and no external gills, which helps to differentiate them from the greater sirens we also have at Corkscrew, though both of these salamanders and their respective families are obligate neotenes, meaning they never fully metamorphose, and retain larval or juvenile characteristics into adulthood.

               








Other great herps I’ve come across are the Banded Water Snake, Cuban Tree Frog, the aforementioned Greater Siren, Peninsular Newt, Five-lined skink, Black Racer, and Gopher tortoise! And just so many, many, MANY gators.                

                                           

-Sam