Connecticut River Critters: The Mudpuppy

Mudpuppies gushing out of fire hydrants onto the streets of Albany, New York.

That’s a startling statement on a couple of counts. As it happened in 1890, let’s set that curious anecdote aside for a few paragraphs. But you might also be wondering, “What’s a mudpuppy?”

Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus). Image Credit: Paul J. Fusco, CTDEEP Wildlife Division

One group of organisms that play a role in healthy rivers and other aquatic ecosystems are the salamanders. They are a group of amphibians that you may remember from biology class that begin life entirely in the water but then replace their gills with a unique combination of simple lungs and the ability to absorb oxygen through their skin. This was an early evolutionary adaptation making the amphibians the first land-dwelling animals tens of millions of years ago.

In New England and throughout the Connecticut River watershed, there are a variety of native salamanders. The ones you are most likely to see on a rainy hike in the woods is the red eft, a small, fragile-looking newt traipsing about the leaf litter probably far away from water. It’s a reminder about how aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems work together and why a salamander can definitely be considered one of our river critters.

Anglers, not hikers, however, are the ones much more likely to see the mudpuppy—often dangling from the end of their line! Salamanders are avid hunters, and the mudpuppy, in its search for bugs, molluscs, or worms, is known to be attracted to fishing lures. These drab-colored salamanders can grow up to a foot long and for their size have an impressive set of teeth.

Not to get off-track, but if the thought of salamanders and teeth is a new one, take note of the several species of giant salamanders endemic to Japan and China. These three highly endangered species can grow to over six feet in length, and they too have an impressive set of chompers. The other North American relation to our mudpuppy is the eastern hellbender, another salamander species living throughout the Appalachian and Piedmont regions of the US. Despite the name and an impressive length of over a foot at times, it is reticent and harmless to humans.

The evolution of amphibians created a variety of metamorphic pathways and adaptations. The red eft (state amphibian of New Hampshire, by the by) starts in the water breathing with gills, then develops lungs and lives on land for several years. It will eventually return to living almost exclusively in the water. The mudpuppy’s metamorphoses skips that terrestrial phase entirely, and it remains waterborne with its feathery external gills. Unlike an exuberant canine puppy, the mudpuppy is shy and tends to hunt about in the dark. Or in the lingo, it’s a crepuscular predator!

But is the mudpuppy a native of New England? The question has been tossed around for well over a century with early nineteenth century naturalists noting that mudpuppies were only found in Midwestern aquatic rivers and streams, principally in the Ohio River drainages. Decades later and over time there were discrete populations found in eastern New York, western Massachusetts in the Amherst area, in several areas in the Connecticut River watershed in Vermont and New Hampshire, and in Maine. Did we just not find them, or are they newly arrived?

Red eft. Image Credit: Getty Images/EzumeImages

The operating theory is that we’ve helped to establish these eastern populations. A Colby College researcher in the late 1930s didn’t manage to keep his collected specimens under tight enough wrap, and they escaped into central Maine waters. University of Massachusetts emeritus researcher Alan Richmond has studied the distribution of mudpuppies, and in a 2005 Northern Woodlands article notes that you can find mudpuppies in locations near universities and colleges, likely due to their use in laboratory studies. (Another unfortunately less-benign example of a university bringing a visitor from elsewhere is Mount Holyoke College’s early-twentieth-century introduction of the aggressive invasive water chestnut [Trapa natans] to the Connecticut River watershed.)

Richmond’s archival research is what turned up the 1890 report of mudpuppies gushing from a hydrant in Albany, New York. The speculation is that the creation of the Erie Canal brought them from the Ohio watersheds to the Hudson River, and they apparently liked the Hudson quite fine!

Whether native or not, the mudpuppy is one of the many amphibians that help to create and maintain a healthy ecosystem here in the Connecticut River watershed. Look sharp under overhanging banks or in recesses under rocks, and you might see one. And give a nod to its initiative if you find one on the end of your line.

Andrew Fisk, PhD, is the Northeast Regional Director for American Rivers. American Rivers is championing a national effort to protect and restore all rivers. Healthy rivers provide people and nature with clean, abundant water and natural habitat. For fifty years, American Rivers’s staff, supporters, and partners have shared a common belief: Life Depends on Rivers.