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Salamander larvae or wood frog tadpole? We found a very small egg mass (6 eggs) in a vernal pond in Ipswich, Massachusetts. We brought them home and are keeping them in a container, although we didn't think the eggs were viable. The gelatinous mass around them was floppy and cloudy, not firm and clear. But they all hatched within days. We think they are salamander larvae, but we're not sure. External gills very visible. Most of the time they are still, but when they swim, they swim rapidly in small circles and seem very different than tadpoles. Length is a bit longer than the diameter of a dime. We are keeping them well-supplied with fresh pondwater and will move them to a container where they can climb out onto land.
Vernal pond in woods.
My guess is that they can't be identified to species level at this point, but are they salamanders or tadpoles? Both wood frogs and spotted salamanders are common in this area.
Spotted on May 15, 2016
Submitted on May 15, 2016
3 Comments
Hmm. If you are on facebook, request to join the Project Noah Worldwide group, then post in there asking for Malcolm or Scott's help. They are great with the tech stuff and have been able to help out a lot of people in the past!
Thank you Ashley. I have been having trouble getting new spottings to post. They seem to get stuck in draft mode even though all the necessary categories have been filled out, as far as I can see. So I added a reference in an attempt to change something so that it would post. I still haven't sorted out why things are getting stuck in draft mode, but I won't add references any more when something needs I.D...
This is a salamander larvae, tadpoles do not have external gills.
And for the future, when you attach a reference to your spotting, it thinks it is identified. Therefore this does not show up in the unidentified spottings so less people will see you need help with it.