The mudpuppy is a whopping salamander that has a frilly side. Most amphibians start out breathing in water with gills, but grow up and develop a pair of lungs so they can crawl out of the water and breathe air. The mudpuppy, however, keeps its red, frilly gills for its entire life and rarely ventures onto land. The life aquatic suits this creature. Its broad tail propels it when swimming, and its small but numerous teeth crunch through all sorts of underwater prey.
Short in the Tooth: The mudpuppy has small teeth, but it has up to 94 of them in its jaws. The teeth in the animal's upper jaw are connected to three different bones so they can overlap, tearing and grinding prey into tiny pieces.
Blue Bottom: This amphibian's skin is gray to light blue and mottled with light and dark spots. This color and pattern helps camouflage the mudpuppy among the mud and pebbles on the river bottom, hiding it from enemies.
Just for the Frill of It[]
A crayfish stands little chance against this salamander.
The red frills around the mudpuppy's neck are the creature's gills. This amphibian never leads a life on land, so it never grows lungs like frogs and other salamanders do. Its gills can constantly transform, depending on the animal's habitat. When in clear, clean water, the frilly gills stay short because they absorb plenty of oxygen. If the mudpuppy wanders into murky waters, its gills grow so much they look like long hair, and they wave around constantly to help take in oxygen from the dirty water.
Walk or Swim?: The mudpuppy can walk on the riverbed. However, it's a swift swimmer. A quick leap and a few strokes of its wide tail set this salamander in motion when it wants to chase after a potential meal.
Night Vision: During the day, this creature hides under a rock and rests; it comes out to hunt at night. The mudpuppy's eyes are small, but the creature has good vision in the dark because its pupils open wide to let in all the available moonlight.
All Night Long[]
- At dusk, a mudpuppy wakes and crawls along the bottom of the river to search for food. Its first victim of the night is a freshwater crab.
- The mudpuppy moves on, and an aquatic insect grabs its attention. The hunter waits for the insect to swim into range, then snaps it up with a quick flick of its head.
- The mudpuppy spots a small fish swimming nearby. The amphibian swims in pursuit with a few waves of its tail, managing to surprises the fish and make the kill with one bite.
Trivia[]
- This card is the highest numbered amphibian card in the collection.
- The card's front illustration is used in the Wildlife Explorer series, for the Mudpuppy's profile. It is unchanged except for the removal of sand and water underneath the Mudpuppy present in the Wildlife Explorer card.
- The mudpuppy eating the crayfish and the illustrations for "all Night Long" are also shared. The latter, titled "Night Owl", features an extra first image of the mudpuppy sleeping beneath a rock.
- The mudpuppy is featured on several Monster Mania cards:
- It is first used in the example creature in Build-A-Beast on Monster Mania 97.
- It is then featured in Common Ground on Monster Mania 98.