Assorted Tadpoles and ...

 

Assorted Tadpoles, May 10, 2021

Not too surprisingly given all the frog/toad reproductive activity that's been going on at the wetland over the past month and a half or so, a look under the water reveals tadpoles of many sizes along with some subtler differences in coloration and body detail. It will become easier to distinguish at least some of the species as they grow older and larger, but the photo above shows most of the tadpoles captured in one sweep of a 10" aquarium-style fishnet.The two small black ones in the top left of the photo are almost certainly American toad "toadpoles." The three or four that are similarly sized but not solidly black are likely another species and the larger ones with mottled coloring are likely one of the leopard frog species. No guarantees though on any of my ids at this point, however. Just speculation. The smallest of them is about half a centimeter long while the largest there is 8x its length at 4cm.


Above is a closer look at the largest tadpole from the photo above (click to view larger). Among other things you may note the injury to the top of the tail fin-- being a tadpole, even a larger one, is not easy. Also, in profile you can see the rasping mouth used for scraping algae and perhaps other plant materials. And yes, the two dark objects on the other side of the lower part of the tail fin are poop -- all the tadpoles were pooping almost continuously while I had them for photos. Like caterpillars feeding voraciously to turn into butterflies, tadpoles have one job -- get large enough to metamorphose into frogs or toads...

OR SALAMANDERS. The critter below also comes from the wetland and has some similarities to tadpoles -- it too is an amphibian but is a smallmouth salamander larva. (Nerdnote: immature salamanders do not have a special term like "tadpole" but are simple called larvae.) Probably the most notable difference in this immature phase is that salamander larvae have external gills --those feathery things above its back -- whereas tadpole gills are covered by gill covers, though if you watch the time-lapse of the leopard frog eggs developing and hatching, you will see that the tadpoles have external gills at first and then the gill covers develop and cover them.

In addition, you'll notice that although the photo below was taken weeks ago (April 27), the salamander larva already had fairly well developed front legs and the beginnings of back legs -- way ahead of any of the tadpoles in the photo above. I have yet to observe any tadpoles with legs in the wetland, though that should change soon.

One other more ominous difference -- salamander larvae are not vegetarians like the tadpoles are. They eat other small creatures in the wetland and, as they get larger, their diets may include tadpoles or frog eggs.

Smallmouth Salamander Larva, April 27, 2021


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Images of Fall and Farewell!

Image
Here are five images of the wetland captured today (11/11/21). The Fall beauty of the wetland speaks for itself.  I hope you enjoy the Fall Photos! Most of the plants and animals are transitioning to a season of rest, and I am as well. Between March 1 and September 30th this year I spent over 200 hours at the wetland and many more hours working on my photos, videos and blog posts. I've enjoyed just about every minute of it and have learned a lot, but it's time for a change. My hope is that this blog has incited curiosity and stirred up wonder for all who've read some of the posts. And of course the blog will remain as a resource for all who are interested in exploring more of the wonders of the wetland. Spoiler Alert: I've been in discussion with the folks at the Homer Lake Interpretive Center and the current plan is for me to collaborate with them on an interpretive display about the wetland coming probably in April 2023 to be displayed in the Interpretive Cen...
Read more

Fairy Shrimp

Image
Fairy Shrimp from the Homer Lake Wetland Although these creatures look like concept drawings for characters in a yet-to-come Star Wars movie, they are actually small fresh-water crustaceans (think crabs, lobsters and shrimp) that inhabit ephemeral (temporary) ponds. You may rightly wonder how a fully aquatic animal such as the fairy shrimp survives from year to year in ponds that dry up completely most years. It is, after all, the fact that they dry up completely on a regular basis that makes them unsuitable habitat for fish and it is the absence of fish that makes such ponds particularly attractive for many other types of animals such as spring peepers, chorus frogs and the fairy shrimp.  So how do fairy shrimp survive when there is no water?  Female fairy shrimp lay two types of eggs. One type has a thin shell and will hatch the same season that it is laid. The other type has a much tougher outer covering and will not hatch until the pond has dried out and then has wate...
Read more

Nothing Says Fall Like a Blue-Faced Meadowhawk

Image
  Blue-Faced Meadowhawk at the Homer Lake Wetland, September 29, 2021 If you take a walk in the area where the wetland water used to be, you'll see dozens of these guys perched in the vegetation or chasing each other around. These are male blue-faced meadowhawks and they're defending good positions for when the females show up. There is no longer any standing water in the wetland, but several meadowhawk species have the strategy of dropping their eggs in areas they expect there to be water come late Fall or early Spring. In addition to ephemeral pools of water being fishless, already a great advantage for the many species that prefer ephemerals, I think the meadowhawk strategy of dropping eggs in the fall where there is no water may also give them a competitive advantage over other dragonfly species. Meadowhawk species are smallish dragonflies, so jumpstarting the growth of their naiads as soon as there is water in the wetland again and before other dragonflies are around...
Read more