Mud Puppy

Mud Puppy, also waterdog, common name for a group of aquatic salamanders, named for their aquatic habitat and the erroneous belief that they bark like a dog. These amphibians live in rivers and lakes of southern Canada and the eastern United States, from southern Québec and southeastern Manitoba southward to the panhandle of Florida and eastern Texas. They have three pairs of bushy external gills, by which they breathe underwater, and a pair of lungs that they do not use; they have no eyelids. They grow to about 12 to 43 cm (about 5 to 12 in). They have flattened heads, dark brown or gray bodies that may be darkly spotted, and a tail that is flattened on the sides. Mud puppies spend most of the day on the river or lake bottom, crawling about on their four weak legs. They feed on aquatic worms, insect larvae, fish eggs, and thin-shelled shellfish. Females lay 60 to 70 eggs singly in shallow water in late spring. The newly hatched young, which closely resemble the parents, are about 1.8 cm (about .75 in) long.

Scientific classification: Mud puppies belong to the genus Necturus in the family Proteidae. The widest-ranging mud puppy is classified as Necturus maculosus.