BLOG 13: The Cool Yellow Ones!

I doodled this on my pad while I was gathering some notes for this blog and thought I’d share it here with you.

I'm actually making light of a very serious issue which is that no matter how good an actor or actress this amphibian is, he (or she) is only given bit parts. It’s very slimy treatment if you ask me…even for  salamanders which are slimy to begin with!

OK, enough of with the shenanigans,   allow me to introduce you (for real this time) to the star of the hour, The Northern Two-Lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata).

If you’re having trouble pronouncing “Eurycea bislineata” just remember it sounds a lot like “Eurycea bislineata.”

Not helpful? I guess you can see why I never became a teacher!

Anyway, I have found these to be some of the speediest salamanders encountered in the Northeast. They’ll wriggle faster than your eyes can follow into the safety of a nearby creek or stream.

When I was a small boy my friends and I called these sals “the cool yellow ones!” They somehow seemed more alert, elusive and exotic than their drabber colored and more accessible woodland cousins. We would have to get on our bicycles and peddle a good half mile or so to a brook that ran behind the local tennis courts to find them. On a productive day after a few minutes of flipping over smooth stones we’d see a flash of gold and catch a glimpse of a fleeing two-lined. It was rare that we were ever were able to put our hands on one though because they were just that quick!  It was probably for the better though because none of these delicate salamanders appreciate being handled no matter how gentle you think your being.

Are we all done? Oh, that’s right! You might like to know something about this amphibian’s habits and haunts! I got so sidetracked with the reminiscing that I forgot I was also supposed to be supplying you with some worthwhile information as well!

The Northern Two-Lined Salamander is a very skinny critter measuring about 2 ½ to 3 ½ inches long.  They range from northern Virginia and Ohio up to Southern Quebec. Like the red-backs discussed in Blog 8, “Here Comes The Plethodons!” It belongs to the diverse group of lungless salamanders meaning that they breathe entirely through their skin and the lining of their mouth.

They are found in and around highly oxygenated rock-bottomed brooks, springs, seepages, in woodland swamps and on river floodplains. They less commonly live under rotting logs in damp forests a good distance from running water.

I have personally found them on the pebble strewn shores of kettle lakes and on the banks of the Pocono creek! If you have an unpolluted stream nearby go run out and turn over a few flat stones  . . . you’ll probably see one! Take a photograph of your find and post it here! I’ love to see it!!

What? You have better things to do with your spare time? OK, then just skip it and keep on reading!

Here is a great little description about E. bislineata from a book published in 1930 about pond life. The author, like me, was impressed with their agility;

“The adults hide beneath flat stones in the water-soaked mud and sand of brook-sides, slithering and jumping out with amazing rapidity when disturbed. The larvae, distinguishable by their gills, grow nearly as long as the adults and stay in the same places, whence they dash out with flash-like suddenness when the stones are moved”

“Whence,” how cool is that!? Who uses “whence” anymore in 2013?

I also want to share this nice little doodle from the book! I guess I’m doing this without permission so I my apologies to the publisher “G.P. Putnam’s Sons,” please don’t sue me!

In the Poconos the two-Lines mate in the fall and the following spring, as late as mid-July, the female deposits 12 to 100 eggs on the underside of a submerged rock.  She guards her brood for 4-10 weeks until they hatch into aquatic larvae. 

Typical 2-Lined Habitat

 For some strange reason, in all the years I have been traipsing around the New Jersey and Pocono wilds I have never come upon a female with eggs. Maybe that’s because my encounters are always along the shoreline and they “nest” in deeper parts of the water? Who knows! Just another thing to ponder over my morning coffee I guess!

Here is the best photo I have managed to take to date of this salamander in its larval form. Not great I know but my little Nikon has trouble photographing through the surface of a gurgling creek.

Adult Two-Lineds feed on granola bars, tofu and fruit salad but only if it’s certified organic!

Huh?

I just wanted to make sure you were still with me and hadn’t trailed off or something. You have to really dig critters to be hanging in there! 

OK, so less appetizing but much more accurate; adult Eurycea bislineatas feed on beetles, spiders, sow bugs (same as pill bugs), ticks, mayflies, springtails (same as snow fleas), thrips and a host of other tiny insects and worms. Thrips, by the way, also called “corn lice” are minute 1 millimeter long sucking insects. I’m sharing that with you because I didn’t know what they were so I thought you might not either. 

Well, guess what? You made it through another Kieran’s Critters! You are to be commended for your intrepidness and spirit of adventure! Any comments, ideas, suggestions, critter stories or imaginary words are always welcome. If you have any complaints at all about anything I stated here please write them out  in small 1 to 2 syllable words on the back of a $50 bill and send them to: Mr. E. Bislineata, care of Kieran Vogel at 123 Lois Lane, Somewhere, PA 314159.

Thanks again for reading!

Merry meet, merry part and merry meet again!