Some east Texas sallies from 12/23....

[shane]

Hey all, I don't post here that often, but I figured some of you might enjoy these finds.
Here are a couple of habitat shots for the first species:

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Here's what a good minnow trap looks like:

A single:

A double:

A triple:

Gulf Coast Waterdog (Necturus beyeri)
Here's another with a Pirate Perch:

In all I found 13 waterdogs; all in minnow traps.
Here are some habitat shots for a different species (beaver pond):

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And the actual hole (below the dam) where I dipnetted the second species:

That was a lot of work for only one find, but I really like these guys:

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Western Lesser Siren (Siren intermedia nettingi)
I was hoping to pull a Amphiuma out of the same muck....maybe next time.
I also tried to find some Ambystoma, but I was plagued with dry logs.
Shane

 

[alex]

Nice pictures of interesting animals and their habitats Shane. Thanks for sharing.

 

[russ]

Were you baiting the minnow traps? I have a couple of the same traps but all I keep getting musk turtles.

 

[ian]

does that hurt the animals? It seems very scary to me if I am that amphibian.....

 

[joan]

Ian, no. The animals swim in the small hole you see, but can't find their way back out, so they're just stuck in there. Then along comes the human and unfastens the back, collects whats in the traps, and either keeps it or lets it go. It's not painful.

 

[shane]

Russ, those traps weren't baited. I think that baiting them may be counter-productive. I didn't find any waterdogs in the traps that contained sunfish....baiting really adds to the sunfish total. Not to mention, baited traps could attract turtles and larger fish such as catfish. I haven't pulled any turtles up in the traps. I assume you are getting juveniles in the traps? What species are you setting your traps for?
Shane

 

[russ]

Actually I've been setting then in the Flint River with and without bait just to see what I get.

 

[shane]

If it's something you can call a river, then I wouldn't expect anything the size of a minnow trap to be worthwhile for such a small, soft animal (granted that their distribution is related to major drainages).
Too many large predators in a "river," not to mention the statistics concerned with a minnow trap body that's just about as wide as 1/10th of the stream.
Shane