# Identify this critter **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629 "2004-12-26T01:44:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/1 "2004-12-26T01:44:48Z")
What on earth is [this thing?](http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/viewsingleimage.html?mode=singleimage&handle=marsha&number=14&album_id=#slideanchor) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/2 "2004-12-26T01:49:41Z")
I recognized the fella but can’t think what it is. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/3 "2004-12-26T01:51:20Z")
A newt of some sort. In what part of the world was it spotted? ---
**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/4 "2004-12-26T01:58:41Z")
Tag on the picture says Prestonsburg, Kentucky. Based on a quick search for amphibians in that area, I’d say it’s a northern dusky salamander. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/5 "2004-12-26T01:59:05Z")
Kentucky ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/6 "2004-12-26T01:59:39Z")
You know, we have a poster here named **Pseudotriton ruber ruber**. Google it up… ---
**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/7 "2004-12-26T02:01:06Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > You know, we have a poster here named **Pseudotriton ruber ruber**. Google it up… Well, I was close. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/8 "2004-12-26T02:16:27Z")
Definitely not a [PRR, too little.](http://biodiversity.wku.edu/salamanders/Salamander_Data/Northern_Red_Salamander.htm) For now, though, salamander will do. I love the caption on the pic: ran into “this little fellow.” My reaction would have been more like “he was trying to eat my soul.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/9 "2004-12-26T03:48:39Z")
C’mon Abbie… That thing is cute and about 4" long. it’s about as dangerous as a snail and about as fierce-looking. You’re tougher than that. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/10 "2004-12-26T04:25:41Z")
Looks like the salamanders/newts me, my brother, and sister used to catch in Virginai all the time while gorwing up. ---
**Author:** ![foxymoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/11 "2004-12-26T05:33:55Z")
My first thought was that it’s a skink. I’m searching Google images to find one with those markings, but so far no luck. The size and shape are right, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/12 "2004-12-26T21:20:40Z")
Hmmm…perhaps Gyrinophilus porphyriticus? Pic: [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/james\_harding/pcd3912\_084.jpg/view.html](http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/james_harding/pcd3912_084.jpg/view.html) I don’t see the diagnostic white stripes on the face, but then the picture is just a bit blurry there and individul variation might produce a less-obviously striped individual. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![wonder9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c57346/32.png) [@wonder9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder9)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/13 "2004-12-26T23:46:53Z")
Could it be a [hellbender](http://hellbenders.sanwalddesigns.com/photos.html)? (Is that not the greatest name in the world? Even if it isn’t one, at least I was able to type it in a post once in my life…) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/14 "2004-12-27T01:11:43Z")
I was thinking “hellbender” also, just because it looks so big. I can’t really tell from the photo whether it’s 4 inches long or 4 feet long. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/15 "2004-12-27T01:39:09Z")
> [@wonder9](#): > > Could it be a [hellbender](http://hellbenders.sanwalddesigns.com/photos.html)? (Is that not the greatest name in the world? Even if it isn’t one, at least I was able to type it in a post once in my life…) I used to want to find a hellbender so damn bad when I was a kid! I would have killed to see my mom’s face if I brought a foot-long salamander home… ---
**Author:** ![wonder9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c57346/32.png) [@wonder9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder9)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/16 "2004-12-27T14:58:06Z")
\ I had a student once who brought me a [siren](http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/animals/species/4456.html) in a five gallon paint bucket one day. Let me tell you…those suckers are big, ugly and eerie. I reached into the murky water and picked it up and it shrieked. I hadn’t realized that any amphibian could make that kind of noise. I also had a kid bring me a huge, painted turtle he’d found. He just chucked that thing right into his back pack and kept walking to school. Then there was the girl who brought in a 6 foot long black rat snake which she said was a family pet. How long had she had it, I asked? Two days she said. And it had never bitten anyone, she said. That may change in the future I said. And please take it off my desk. 😛 \ ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-critter/281629/17 "2004-12-27T15:26:59Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > In what part of the world was it spotted? I believe it was spotted regardless of the part of the world in which it existed.