POWERGRAMS

23 The mystery of "Who Let the Dogs Out?" has at last been solved: It was Jeff Baker. The Alabama Power Environmental Affairs specialist, fellow employees and cohorts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have been capturing and releasing the federally protected Black Water Waterdog the past two years to help save this elusive salamander found nowhere on Earth outside Alabama. Armed with the necessary permits and working in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, Baker travels by boat to the upper reaches of Smith Lake to survey the large aquatic salamanders. Also known as the Alabama Mudpuppy, the rare animal can grow to 10 inches in length and is considered an "excellent indicator of overall stream health." Necturus alabamensis, which has recently been listed as endangered by the USFWS, has been found in only four counties west of Birmingham in the Black Warrior River Basin. It is distinguished from other salamanders by its large external gills used to breathe under water. Most other adult salamanders lose their gills as they grow, Baker said. But those gills are important to the Black Water Waterdog because it spends its entire life underwater. The Black Warrior Waterdog is typically found in streams where there is plenty of cover in the form of large submerged rocks or bedrock crevices, Baker said. The young are often found in submerged leaf packs, where they can hide from predators and are thought to feed on insect larvae. Those aspects, and because the salamander is typically active at night, make it difficult for scientists to find the animal or get an accurate estimate of how many exist. "We have been using baited minnow traps for adults, dip-netting leaf packs for larvae and collecting water samples for eDNA (environmental DNA) analysis to look for evidence of the salamander," Baker said. "Minnow traps are baited with fresh chicken liver and placed along large rocks, bedrock crevices, rock bluff overhangs and submerged leaf packs." Trapped salamanders are photographed and released after their location, size and vital information are recorded by Baker and other surveyors. The annual inspection is part of an agreement between EMPLOYEES AID IN SEARCH FOR ELUSIVE UNDERWATER 'DOG' By Chuck Chandler PHOTOS by DAVID FRINGS

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