I used to take walks along side this murky, stagnant pond (in northern VA) and the only thing I saw in there were turtles and the occasional water snake. However, there were "things" take gulps of air at the surface. I thought they were tadpoles but upon further inspection they appeared to be weather loaches. I read up on them and found that they were highly adaptable to this area very likely what I saw.
That too bad about the axolotl. I guess the decision was to ban the entire Mole Salamander family rather than having to list (and later amend) individual species in the family. Kind of stinks because once never owned one. However, the potential to spread disease from other members of this family to some of the native amphibians is costly IMO. Love the natives!
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