July 10, 2009
THE WEEK OF SEPT. 28
Making the Most of Wet Weather
A marbled salamander with her eggs in October, 2002 (Newday Photo / Bill Davis)
September normally is a quiet month for Long Island's reptiles and amphibians. But abundant rainfall has jump-started the breeding season for the diminutive marbled salamander, says Jeremy Feinberg, a herpetologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based at the Upton Ecological and Research Reserve at Brookhaven National Laboratory. They are breeding about a month earlier than usual.
Marbled salamanders are the smallest of four related species here -- a group that also includes the Eastern tiger, spotted and blue-spotted salamanders. "Since they're the smallest, they've evolved to lay their eggs preceding all of the other bigger guys in the spring," Feinberg says of the marbled salamanders.
September's rains provided them with an additional leg up, as adults began seeking their mating partners by shaded woodland pools in Eastern Suffolk County.
The developing juveniles will need all the help they can get, since spring becomes "a race to the finish" for the young of all four species, Feinberg says. -- Bryn Nelson
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