Talk:Mudpuppy
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Lungs [edit]
How is it that the mudpuppy"never develops lungs" when in the article it states that it develops external lungs?
That was simply incorrect. They develop external gills; I fixed it and did some minor editorial stuff. Given that mudpuppies have been studied and dissected by generations of biologists, this is an article that could be seriously expanded (time, time, time) Dmccabe 02:10, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
ANyone know how to make Necturus take readers right here?Dmccabe 02:24, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
Mudpuppies do have lungs (in low-ox environments they'll grab air from the aurface) but they're not terribly well developed, like those of any amphibian. The gills allow them to not use the lungs if DO is plentiful. --SquidDNA 12:33, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
Toes [edit]
The article mentions that one can distinguish mudpuppies from immature salamanders, in that mudpuppies only have four toes... But, looking at the picture of the axototl, other salamanders have four toes, too. So, should we rewrite it as how to distinguish them from sirens, or just delete the line altogether?--Mr Fink 16:11, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
Mudpuppies have four toes on the hind feet. Axolotl and most other salamanders have five. What I would like to know is why the whole genus of Necturus is considered The Mudpuppy. In my experience the word Mudpuppy refers to Necturus maculosus. The other species have their own common names, with the only ambiguous one being N. lewisi Brimley, 1924—Neuse River Waterdog (the other Necturus are called Waterdogs). Obviously vernacular names are confusing and vary geographically but the use of the common names has been pretty standard in the literature for the last few decades. See also here (pp 24-25). Also, there is a general move away from using the word "common" in english names because many of these species are actually becoming less so and may be protected as species at risk in some jurisdictions (including "common" mudpuppies, "common" map turtles, "common" snapping turtles, and "common" musk turtles. Matt Keevil (talk) 14:13, 19 October 2010 (UTC)
Olm [edit]
After reading about the olm, I discovered that it was an genus within the Mudpuppy family. My first impression was that is was prey, or unrelated. I changed the intro to make its mention less ambiguous.
