Re:OT:mudpuppies

I was intrigued by the use of this name because another good friend also
uses it in her e-mail address.

According to most biologists, the mudpuppy is a large salamander (10-14"
long) that is found commonly in streams in the NE part of North America,
with a few isolated populations in the midwest (that stream in Kansas?).
Yound mudpuppies have external gills and are fully aquatic.  They were very
common in the Alleghany River when I was growing up.  We called them
"mud-dogs" and were very scared of them!  They can bite but are pretty
harmless.  There is a truly enormous relative called the hellbender, which
can be a yard long, and which I have seen only once in a cold river in the
Smoky Mountains.  The biggest member of this family lives in Japan, and can
get 5 feet long!

The spotted salamanders you are describing are probably a species of
Ambystoma, a genus that includes the spotted salamander and the marbled
salamander.  These are very different creatures that appear in ponds and
temporary bodies of water during their early spring breeding season.  They
are up to 4" long and are colorful in yellow, black, and white.

Now, the Redhorse is a different matter--we used that name for a
modest-sized fish that migrated upriver in spring at the same time as the
White Sucker.  They spawn in small streams and local people collected them
in buckets and baskets to bury under hills of corn (they appeared about the
time you would be planting corn in your garden).  We had great corn but very
smelly gardens.

The trouble with common, or English, names, is that they can mean different
things in different parts of the country and hence create confusion.  But
most people find Latin names hard to work with and pronounce unless they are
real nature freaks and very interested in the particular group of animals.
Strange, though, that 5-year-olds can learn and pronounce the Latin names of
dozens of dinosaurs.....

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(434)223-6172
FAX (434)223-6374
email<wshear@email.hsc.edu>
Moderating e-lists:
Coleus at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coleus
Opiliones at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/opiliones
Myriapod at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/myriapod

"A man thinks as well through his legs and arms as his brain.  We exaggerate
the importance and exclusiveness of the headquarters.  Do you suppose they
were a race of consumptives and dyspeptics who invented Grecian mythology
and poetry?  The poet's words are, "You would almost say the body thought!"
I quite say it.  I trust we have a good body then."  --Henry David Thoreau,
Journals, Dec. 31, 1860.


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Universal Inkjet Refill Kit $29.95
Refill any ink cartridge for less!
Includes black and color ink.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Vv.L9D/MkNDAA/ySSFAA/2gGylB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index