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A Snorkeling Biologist Snapped the First-Ever Photos of Newly Hatched California Giant Salamanders in the Wild. Here’s Why That's a Big Deal
Key takeaways
- Carlyn Kranking | Associate Web Editor, Science
- Reichmuth was surveying juvenile coho salmon—but these mysterious animals were something else. “I noticed external gills and tiny developing legs,” he tells Smithsonian magazine.
- Once he found out what he was looking at, Reichmuth realized that his observation was much rarer than he thought, and it’s incredibly valuable to scientists.
Carlyn Kranking | Associate Web Editor, Science
Add as preferred source. The first image of newly hatched California giant salamanders in the wild can teach biologists about the nesting habitat of the little-known species. NPS / Michael Reichmuth At first, they looked like fish. The cluster of one-inch-long, swimming creatures was tucked beneath rocks in frigid creek water. As National Park Service fisheries biologist Michael Reichmuth snorkeled slowly above them, he positioned his camera and snapped a photo.
Reichmuth was surveying juvenile coho salmon—but these mysterious animals were something else. “I noticed external gills and tiny developing legs,” he tells Smithsonian magazine. “They were amphibians, but I didn’t know the species.”
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