BREAKING!! Giant, crazy-looking salamander discovered in Florida swamp!!! totally NEW undiscovered species!!

I thought this was going to be about hillary

but he's too cute

thanks!!


While the official description of the reticulated siren will be news to most of the world, for the scientists who study amphibians, this moment has been eagerly awaited.

“It was a long time coming,” says Jennifer Stabile, an associate research scientist with Field Projects International, a company that helps teach students in the sciences how to do field work. “People had been discussing this for decades, how these groups needed to be looked at because we knew that there were more species there than had been documented.”

Earlier in her career, Stabile was part of a team that discovered that two other siren species, the greater siren and southern dwarf siren, will actually go out of their way to eat plants. (Prior to this, it was believed the animals only ate invertebrates.) She is also one of only a handful of people on the planet who have successfully bred sirens in captivity.

“So when I saw that this paper had been published, I was super stoked,” says Stabile. “I’ll never forget the first [greater siren] that I caught in a minnow trap, because they’re huge!”

[link to www.nationalgeographic.com (secure)]

Scientists solved a decades-old swamp-monster mystery in Florida

Until now, the reticulated siren was just a rumor.

A mythical and mysterious swamp monster—also known as a species of giant salamander—the reticulated siren is found in the shallow freshwater marshes of Florida and Alabama, and locally known as a “leopard eel.” Rarely spotted and never previously studied by herpetologists, the siren made its scientific debut on Dec. 5.

In a study in Plos One, researchers from Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, and the Georgia Sea Turtle Center in Jekyll, Georgia, described, classified, and named the salamander species for the first time, placing it in the Siren family. The first such giant salamander was captured in 1970, and was at the time suspected to be an undescribed new species. But few of them have been seen since, so there hasn’t been any formal work in the intervening half-century.



[link to qz.com (secure)]

Scientists discover new species of giant salamander in Florida, and it looks like an alien

Mike Wehner @MikeWehner
December 6th, 2018 at 12:52 PM
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You’ll find plenty of interesting creatures if you march through a Florida swamp. There’s alligators and crocodiles of course, as well as various species of snakes and other creepy-crawlies, but one animal in particular has eluded scientists for a while. It’s a species of giant salamander that can grow up to two feet in length, and researchers only just now documented its existence.

The salamander, which goes by the scientific name Siren reticulata (meaning “reticulated siren”) is a species of giant salamander that sports a unique leopard-like pattern of spots along its body. With no hind legs at all, its body is more like an eel than anything else, and its massive external gills give its head a frilly appearance.

[link to bgr.com (secure)]

Last Edited by Digital mix guy Spock on 12/11/2018 12:20 AM

It’s ADORABLE

My prediction:

in a month time, we will be able to find videos that are 4 years old showing the salamander in it's natural environment.

in 6 months time, scientist will alert the public to the fact that the salamander is an endangered species.

in a year time we will read on wikipedia that the salamander was really discovered in the 1990's

in 5 years time, we will read that the salamander has been the official state mascot since 1927

in 10 years time, the salamander will be so common, it will be used in local traditional Florida dishes in top notch restaurants.

And this people, is how the universe injects novelty into itself.

Last Edited by JADR+ on 12/11/2018 12:30 AM

Just like the glasswing butterfly - who knew about it until recently?

Yet, it's always been around!

Thread: Glasswing Butterfly

Now that they found it, I'm worried for its species survival.

Not to be confused with Amphiuma

Everybody had their noses in their smart phones (chromed robot turds)and missed them completely even after tripping over and squishing hundreds.

YESSISM!

The Formula becomes apparent year-by-year; episode-by-episode. Funny, thanks...

I always thought axolotls were the coolest thing with the coolest name, but this new guy with the external gills is right up there on the cool creature list.

Here is a National Geographic short piece about how axolotls are going extinct in their limited natural habitat in Mexico. I thought they were more widespread in population. I also didn't know there were so many in captivity:

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]



When I tried to look up the Mexican salamander I was calling it an atlatl - that didn't get me anywhere :-)

Last Edited by Vision Thing on 12/11/2018 01:13 AM

Their lungs look just like corral

Looks like Mandelbrot on his head.

looks like Bruce Jenner's French tickler

ooooh sooo jaded!

2 foot long, snake look-a-like salamander, sounds more like a nightmare! LOL

I love salamanders in general, but this looks more like a monster. And that they never knew about till just recently! That is crazy.

Daawww

Wait a minute..

No back legs? WTF?

Jaded means your lovers give you jade. They need a better description, something like Herpesed.

Yup!

That’s kinda cute VT. I say kinda because no matter how cute I still would not want to be in same waters as one.

Learn something new every day. I agree with you Asmodee they need a better term.

2 foot long, snake look-a-like salamander, sounds more like a nightmare! LOL

I love salamanders in general, but this looks more like a monster. And that they never knew about till just recently! That is crazy.

 Quoting: 2012Portal

I love that part too. They never knew till now.

Salamanders can grow to enormous size

OMG that’s huge!

It looks a lot like an axolotl.

Bump