Common Mudpuppy
Necturus maculosus
Summary: Fully aquatic; still common in Lake Michigan and Wolf Lake, formerly occurred in most major rivers and lakes. Regional status uncertain.
Description: The mudpuppy is a large aquatic salamander, 8.0 to 19.0 inches (20 to 48.5 cm) total length. Dark red external gills are present. Overall coloration is usually dark rusty brown above, with small indistinct dark spots, and gray below. There are four toes on each foot, and a distinct tail fin. The mudpuppy is much more slender and elongate, with much greater distance between the front and hind limbs, than the superficially similar larval tiger salamander; the two species also occupy distinctly different habitat types.
Distribution and Status: Mudpuppies probably once were present in most of the larger rivers and lakes of the Chicago region. Today, they are known from Lake Michigan, where observations by divers are fairly frequent, and from Wolf Lake. They probably persist in some of the clean glacial lakes, although no recent sampling has been attempted. There are recent anecdotal reports from the Kankakee River, although these have not been documented. The regional status of the mudpuppy is perhaps less well understood than that of any other local amphibian.
Habitat: Mudpuppies are limited to permanent water, and most records are from Lake Michigan and from large rivers and lakes. In Michigan I have seen congregations of mudpuppies among submerged rip rap near bridges in a medium-sized, sand bottom stream. Elsewhere I have seined multiple individuals from leafpacks among submerged vegetation in small rivers.
Evermann and Clark (1920) reported mudpuppies in burrows, usually with two openings, in the soft muck and marl of a vegetated lake bed.
Phenology: Mudpuppies are active year-round, although they may be sluggish and slow moving during the winter months. Evermann and Clark (1920) observed mudpuppies in Lake Maxinkuckee, a little east of our region, and published detailed observations worth quoting at length:
"We have observed them moving about and have caught them at all seasons, practically in every month of the year. Actually, we saw them most frequently in winter.... especially because the presence of a sufficiently strong sheet of transparent ice on the lake gives an ideal condition for observation and study of the lake bed even at considerable depths."Breeding occurs in the spring. Evermann and Clark (1920) located a nest on June 12, 1901, under a submerged board in shallow water; an adult mudpuppy was nearby.
Literature Cited:
Evermann, B. W., and H. W. Clark. 1920. Lake Maxinkuckee: A Physical and Biological Survey. Volume 1. Indiana Department of Conservation, Publication No. 7.
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| Updated: October 9, 2007
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