Spotted Salamander Special

Spotted Salamander - 14 days after hatching - Linda Bower

Linda Bower from our Master Naturalist Chapter has just completed her Magnum Opus, the video of spotted salamanders' trip from eggs to land over 2 months.  This is two months worth of video edited down to 7 minutes.  It covers the development from two weeks before hatching through 7 weeks after hatching, all in this 7 minute Youtube video.

They begin life in a cluster of eggs with their siblings.  The mass feels like a handful of tough jello which protects the eggs from dehydration as their ephemeral pond dries out.  Water is held inside but oxygen can't get in either.

Green eggs, hold the ham - REK

Then a strange thing happens, the cluster turns green!  Spotted salamanders have an interesting and unique symbiotic relationship with a single celled green alga, Oophila amblystomatis.  The algae takes up carbon dioxide and nitrogen waste products from the eggs and photosynthesizes oxygen.  The eggs acquire the needed oxygen, continuing to develop into larvae while producing more carbon dioxide and the cycle continues.

A New Scientist article calls this The First Solar-powered Vertebrate.  The relationship has been known before but now there is proof that the algal cells exist inside the cells of the salamanders themselves.  The algae is thought to be contained in the salamander germ cells and thus transmitted to each new generation.

Torn Tail trying to figure out what to do with the tadpole now - LB

Green Gill with a mouthful of tadpole

Then for a fun feature watch her video of a Food Fight over a Dead Tadpole.  The 75 minute competition is edited down to three minutes with a lively sound track.  Each salamander has a distinctive feature so you will meet Green Gill, Torn Tail, Notch Back and Round Butt with a guest appearance of a predaceous diving beetle with an attitude.  National Geographic, eat your heart out!



When you have some time, check out Linda's Nature in Motion channel.  You will need a lot of time as her Life Around the Pond play list alone has 129 videos!