Elmer catches Mudpuppie thru ice in Maine

After review of my pictures, Jeff Humpfries an expert in aquatic salamanders, told me I had a Mudpuppie which is a cousin of the Hellbender. The difference being in the internal or external gills and 4&5 toes on the back foot respectively.

Yeah, when you take a mudpuppy out of the water the gills just kind of fall next to the body. I can barely see the gill buds on the picture you sent -- right next to where the arm comes out. If you put it in water, you'll see the gills puff back out. Another thing is that the gills aren't as developed in highly oxygenated water -- maybe the lake you were in has a lot of oxygen. If you put that mudpuppy in low oxygen water, its gills would turn really red and get larger over a few day period. A few other characteristics: mudpuppies have 4 toes on both the front and back feet -- hellbenders have 5 on the rear feet. Also you can see how your mudpuppy's head sort of comes to a point and there is a sort of groove where the eyes are. Hellbenders have very round heads and there are no grooves like that where the eyes are.

Both species are pretty closely related salamanders though and they are oftentimes confused with one another. Distribution and habitat differences are usually a good indication of what you've got. Like I said before, hellbenders are only found in relatively fast-flowing creeks and rivers from Mississippi, over to Georgia, and north to southern New York. Mudpuppies are really wide-ranging, going all the way up into Canada (especially around the great lakes), and they generally live in slower moving water, including lakes.

Hope this helps!

Chasing Land Locked salmon proved to be a futile effort this weekend as strong winds and blowing snow made for poor fishing conditions. Mare-E saw first hand how nature can turn against you. "If this is the worst than I'll go again. " said Mare-E "It's a lot of work to set everything up. I never knew." Again we found people talking about the wrong fish being released into the prime trout and salmon pond and lakes. Patten Pond has an abundance of Large Mouth Bass that aren't native to the pond. Officials want all bass caught to be taken and not released. Oh well if you can't fish, then take Mare-E on a photo tour of Arcadia Park, Bar harbor, Maine.