Siren intermedia

This is my personal favourite herp. I was so excited to see one in real life... they seem like mythical creatures to me. I think that they look like little water dragons! Siren intermedia, or the lesser siren, are such a wild looking species. They are obligate paedomorphs, whihc means that they must retain juvenile characteristics, such as external gills & no eyelids, to survive in their environments. They are easily distinguished from any other herp. out there! At first I didn't know if this was a Siren lacertina (greater) or a Siren intermedia (lesser) . I would have guessed lacertina because I thought it was very large! However, it was a lesser siren...ranging in size from about 18-68 cm in length. These are eel-like creatures with only two front legs. Each leg has 4 toes. It is still a mystery whether this is limb reduction/loss or something completely separate. Their heads are pretty flat and they have a fin that goes down their back to their vent (small). He was so cool... we caught him in a trap bucket at Francis Marion Park & as soon as we took the top bucket off I got so excited. I had to hold him, and when I did it was so much different than I thought ha. It was so slimy and slippery that I could literally not hold him, he would slip out of my hands as soon as I tried to pick him up. We weren't having much luck that day finding any salamanders or other catches in the traps, except crawfish, so this was super exciting. There was also another surprise in the bucket with the siren.. it was an Lithobates grylio! The pig frog was really neat as well. As you can see from the picture, he is a slim waisted frog with a very visible tympanum (hearing aid). He is part of the family Ranidae which represent the "true frogs" or bull frog looking frogs. Pig frogs have very narrow pointy heads and their hind feet are extremely webbed (webs extend all the way to end of toes). The 4th toe extends farther out beyond the others. They are usually olive/brown in colour and have dark spots. Their venter is white or creamish with a netlike brown pattern on thighs. These are a very aquatic species & it was really neat to see him in the same environment as the siren!