Lesser Siren

 The lesser siren is an interesting amphibian. They have very short limbs, gills, and can endure periods of drought by borrowing into the mud. In fact, the pictures below were taken from a drainage ditch in the Midwest which is quite likely to experience droughts at times. The ditch appeared to contain a significant number of them and I was able to capture some by dipnetting at night with a flashlight for illumination. Please note that the animals were released exactly was found and were only kept, in a plastic container that had never been exposed to soaps or chemicals of any kind, for a few moments.