TODAY, SAN FRANCISCO, TOMORROW, THE WORLD!
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| -Short Attention Span Theater- | ||
| Signs and Portents: A Plague of Frogs | ||
| 2004-05-10 | ||
Native to the African nation of Kenya, the frogs are able to live under ice, in the ground, and in bodies of water that are nearly half saltwater. They alter ecosystems by gobbling up insects, fish, lizards and even birds that manage to fit into their large, tongueless mouths. They are also able to burrow into the ground to survive dry conditions and have been known to prey on the state's endangered red-legged frog. The African frogs, outlawed in California as pets several years ago, are typically used in medical and biological research. Biologists theorize that their residence in Golden Gate Park's Lily Pond and in areas of Southern California may be due to researchers depositing the frogs in the ponds to save them from destruction. Pet stores and collectors wary of being slapped with fines of up to $1,000 may have also have released them into local creeks and ponds. Susan Ellis, the department's invasive species coordinator, said budget constraints forced her department to divert funds to more threatening species on California's long list of invasive organisms, including the New Zealand mud snail and the northern pike that has taken over Lake Davis, near the Sierra community of Portola. "We would like to get those frogs out of that pond," Ellis said. "But because of our current situation with budget cuts and personnel, it just isn't at that point. Some of the rehabilitation of the ponds has been slowed and this pond is not on the list." But some, including Young, say the department is more worried about failure than budgets, especially in light of the bad publicity the department received following efforts to eradicate the northern pike at Lake Davis in 1997. State wildlife officials pumped 50,000 pounds of poison into the lake in an effort to get rid of the voracious invasive fish, which threatens the lake's trout population and downstream salmon. The effort caused an uproar among Portola residents who rely on the lake for their drinking water and for tourist dollars from vacationers. The poison stayed in the lake for weeks and killed most of the animal life -- except, for some reason, the northern pike, which still thrive there today.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #24 Im learn stuf too Mucky - pupfish are native to vernal (seasonal pools) and thrive during wet seasons - see also: Fairy Shrimp. As you noted, they also occur in the Colorado River, and in other saline springs. The Salton Sea is manmade through error, has no outlet, and with the increasing salinity, and chemical load from farming runoff into tributaries, is becoming inhospitable to most species.... it was a non-natural body of water, and without major HUMAN intervention, will become a dead sea. I don't disagree that it should be maintained, it's a major bird stopoff in the migratory pattern, and I love Quail and Dove mmmm (or as Petaenespanol would say: Me gusta el carne) ;-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-11 12:57:04 PM |
| #23 here is some information of which there is lot more here. FIGURES Figure 1. Distribution of desert pupfish and designated critical habitat around the Salton Sea, California. 1.0 Introduction &##9;The desert pupfish (Cyprinodontidae, Cyprinodon macularius (Baird and Girard 1853)) is the only fish endemic to the Salton Sink. There are two subspecies in the United States: a Colorado River form (C. m. macularius Baird and Girard) and a Quitobaquito form (C. m. eremus Miller and Fuiman) (Marsh and Sada 1993). This report focuses on C. m. macularius, whose wild populations occur around the Salton Sea (Marsh and Sada 1993). Information was obtained from a literature search conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), an internet search, and from the library at the Bureau of Reclamation in Denver, Colorado. Recent unpublished survey data were obtained from CDFG. and furthemore mister g: 2.0 Distribution and Abundance in the Salton Sea &##9;Desert pupfish were once widespread and abundant in portions of southern Arizona and southeastern California, United States, and northern Baja California and Sonora, Mexico (Miller 1943). In 1859, Girard first reported desert pupfish in California in some saline springs in Imperial County (Jordan, Evermann, and Clark 1930). After the Salton Sink was flooded in 1904-1907 by diversion of the Colorado River, desert pupfish colonized what is now known as the Salton Sea (Thompson and Bryant 1920) and was reported as "abundant" by several authors (Coleman 1929; Cowles 1934; Barlow 1958, 1961; Walker 1961). However, only Barlow (1961) provided an estimate of 10,000 individuals in a single shoreline pool of the Salton Sea. Collections made by CDFG and others, including Schoenherr (1979), in the late 1950s to early 1960s indicated that desert pupfish abundance at the Salton Sea was severely declining (Black 1980). In surveys conducted by CDFG in 1978-1979, desert pupfish accounted for 3 percent of the total catch in irrigation drains, 5 percent of the catch from shoreline pools, and less than 1 percent of the catch from three natural permanent tributaries and the Salton Sea proper (Black 1980). However, desert pupfish accounted for 70 percent of the total catch from San Felipe Creek, an intermittent tributary to the Salton Sea. &##9;The desert pupfish was listed as a California endangered species in1980 (CDFG 1980). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) listed this species and its critical habitat as endangered in 1986 because of habitat alteration, introductions of exotic species and contaminants, and other habitat impacts (FWS 1986). Designated critical habitat includes San Felipe Creek, Carrizo Wash, and Fish Creek Wash in Imperial County, California (FWS 1986). Figure 1 shows the general distribution of desert pupfish around the Salton Sea. Current desert pupfish populations occur in drains directly discharging to the Salton Sea, in shoreline pools of the Salton Sea, several artificial refugia, and in desert washes at San Felipe Creek and Salt Creek. Pupfish are not known to occur in the New or Alamo Rivers because of the high sediment loads, excessive velocities, and presence of predators (Imperial Irrigation District 1994). never debate me animal issues. im always watch animal planet learn lot of stuff! |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-05-11 12:45:39 PM |
| #22 frank g! you doubting me on this? im going have to whip out my superior debate skillz on you now. be back in minute. you are sooooo wrong buddy. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-05-11 12:37:42 PM |
| #21 I'm knowing muck4doo don't have a pork chop around his neck. |
| Posted by: Fury 4 2004-05-10 4:06:12 PM |
| #20 Frank G - Yes. Few people know about that. Look at a map of California in the 19th century. Curiously the Salton sea area - below sea level was the lowest elevation on Earth before the Salton Sea, and NO ONE relaized it. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-10 4:03:43 PM |
| #19 Bzzzzt - pupfish live in seasonal vernal pools, Salton Sea is a man-made body of water when the Colorado burst a levee |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-10 2:36:09 PM |
| #18 there family cyprinads that have blue color with yellowish tail. grow about 2 to 3 inches. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-05-10 2:10:27 PM |
| #17 WTF is a pupfish?!? |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-05-10 2:06:22 PM |
| #16 pupfish were native. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-05-10 2:03:04 PM |
| #15 ummmm cichlids in salton sea? how about corvina? BTW what was native before, Mucky? dust devils? spotted dirt fish? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-10 2:00:49 PM |
| #14 Of course, mucky, chainney's behind it, right? |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-05-10 1:42:21 PM |
| #13 this not good but it not eco peples fault! this happen when fascist greedy aquarium trade peples go taking animal out of natural envirement to make money. the frog are going do great damage in one of the world most beutyful emvirement. the jerk that put northern pike in california lake is doing alot of harm native trout species just so he can get kick out of hooking northern pike in blood sport. salton sea basin nearly see all native species disappear because jack ass put cichlid in it. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-05-10 1:41:30 PM |
| #12 Maybe we could send them the snakehead that is infesting Maryland lakes again this year. Could be fun to watch the snakehead and the pike fight it out ... I like that idea. I like the idea of recruiting the NRA to solve the frog problem even more. We wouldn't have "invasion" problems on this scale if the Left would just let us kill the buggers. Unfortuneatly, the Left doesn't seem to understand the term "Pre-emptive strike". |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-05-10 1:07:06 PM |
| #11 TODAY, SAN FRANCISCO, TOMORROW, THE WORLD! |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-10 12:36:23 PM |
| #10 Maybe we could send them the snakehead that is infesting Maryland lakes again this year. Could be fun to watch the snakehead and the pike fight it out ... |
| Posted by: Sofia 2004-05-10 12:31:17 PM |
| #9 I'm not worried untill the giant locusts show up. |
| Posted by: N guard 2004-05-10 12:16:04 PM |
| #8 Atkins diet heaven frogs and crickets for free |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-05-10 10:58:22 AM |
| #7 Even worse, they're kind of cute -- and thus more likely to be whisked away by children and dumped into other ponds, where they spread even more. Nah,I think the kids make a good pesticide: "Come with me my froggy friend! Live in my pond! *squish* Now why does that keep happening?" |
| Posted by: Miss Gunn 2004-05-10 10:55:13 AM |
| #6 Mmm fried bug. Tarantula tastes a bit like crab, you know? |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-05-10 10:48:09 AM |
| #5 Ahhhhh crap - more of the obligatory: "you fry them up and they taste kinda like chicken..." Uh noooooo, they taste like a fried BUG! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-10 10:45:47 AM |
| #4 The 17-year cycle of cicada plagues is hitting this year again, too. Look for several million of the critters infesting Ohio in the next few weeks. Given the amount of press hype they've gotten, I expect the cicadas to cancel their appearance just to embarass the media. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-10 10:42:07 AM |
| #3 Oh, forgot the obligatory: African frogs--why do they hate us? |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-05-10 10:37:32 AM |
| #2 The 17-year cycle of cicada plagues is hitting this year again, too. Look for several million of the critters infesting Ohio in the next few weeks. |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-05-10 10:36:55 AM |
| #1 Biologists theorize that their residence in Golden Gate Park's Lily Pond and in areas of Southern California may be due to researchers depositing the frogs in the ponds to save them from destruction. Pet stores and collectors wary of being slapped with fines of up to $1,000 may have also have released them into local creeks and ponds Two prime examples of the law of unintended consequences. The eco-types seldom think things through. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-05-10 10:08:06 AM |