Black Warrior Waterdog
This permanently gilled waterdog lives beneath rock and ledges in streams of the Black Warrior River basin, surfacing a biodiversity story hidden below turbid water.
Artwork inspired by Thornton Dial
A flattened head, four toes, external gills, dark spots, and a laterally compressed tail distinguish waterdogs, though exact identification belongs to specialists. Clean rock crevices provide shelter and nest sites.
Sediment fills those spaces while mine drainage, nutrients, impoundments, and altered flow degrade reaches. Observers should read stream condition from the bank; overturning slab rock can destroy precisely the refuge the animal requires.
- Native basin
- Alabama
- Gill clue
- external gills
- Rock refuge
- slab-rock stream
Quick guide
- Recognition
- Dark spotted aquatic salamander with bushy external gills, four toes, and a paddle-like tail.
- Habitat
- Medium to large streams with current, flat rock, ledges, and submerged crevices.
Recognize it through habitat and behavior
- Recognition
- Dark spotted aquatic salamander with bushy external gills, four toes, and a paddle-like tail.
- Habitat
- Medium to large streams with current, flat rock, ledges, and submerged crevices.
- Ecology
- Nocturnal predator of aquatic invertebrates and small animals; remains aquatic for life.
- Observe responsibly
- Do not lift slab rock, seine, handle, or enter protected survey reaches.
Good to know
Do not lift slab rock, seine, handle, or enter protected survey reaches. Moving stream cover can destroy the exact refuge this permanently aquatic salamander needs.
Notice these
- external gills
- spotted body
- slab-rock stream