SLIDES/ART

Slides

1a - 6
7 - 14
15 - 22
23 - 30
31 - 38
39 - 46
47 - 54
55 - 62
63 - 70
71 - 78

These pages have 80 slides accompanied by a description. This is not a slide program but rather a collection of slides and information. If you would like to view a slide program assembled from these slides, go to the slide program index.

(Photograph ©1996 Joe Martinez.)		39. Marbled salamander with eggs. The marbled salamander lays its eggs in the fall in the dried basin of the vernal pool. Carefully lifting matted leaves and other litter within the pool might expose these animals. The female remains with the eggs which hatch when the pool fills in the fall.
		40. Marbled salamander larva. The marbled salamander larvae are active in the pool throughout the winter, even under the ice. They feed on a variety of small organisms in the pool. Older larvae may exhibit rows of spots on their sides.

		41. Marbled and spotted salamander larvae. By late spring when other mole salamander larvae hatch, the marbled larvae are 2-3 times their size. Marbled larvae prey on other larvae as well as small invertebrates in the pool. Immediately after this photograph was taken, the marbled larva on the left swung around and ate the spotted larva.
		42. Marbled salamander emergent. Marbled salamanders emerge from the pools in late spring, somewhat earlier than other mole salamanders. Although almost without markings at first, they might have the beginnings of their silvery-blotch pattern. Emergents with gill remnants are evidence of breeding.
		43. Male fairy shrimp. Fairy shrimp are obligate to vernal pools. They swim "upside down" while feeding on detritus and small organisms. About an inch long, their color varies from red-orange to greenish blue. The male (shown) has claspers extending from its head.
		44. Female fairy shrimp. The female fairy shrimp will often have an egg case visible on her abdomen just past her swimming appendages. The eggs remain on the pool floor during the dry season and hatch with the return of water.
		45. Spring peeper. The spring peeper is a facultative vernal pool species, breeding in vernal pools and permanent water bodies. Its peeping call in early spring could signal the location of a vernal pool. With its loud voice and small size (1.5 inches), it is usually heard but not seen. Identifying characteristics are the X-marking on its back and the pads on its toes.
		46. American toad. The American toad is a facultative vernal pool organism which breeds in mid-spring in vernal pools and other waters. Toads migrate to breeding pools well after mole salamanders and wood frogs but generally before the end of April. After breeding, they return to uplands and do not remain at the pool. The male calling here is in a patch of cranberry in a shallow vernal pool. The call is a long musical trill. The eggs are laid in long strands in shallow water.

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