Roger Morales' photo of the mudpuppy he caught Thanksgiving morning at Montrose Harbor finally clicked in my mind what mudpuppies look like.
The man from Brighton Park e-mailed, ``It was almost two pounds and about 14 inches long. I was amazed. I had never caught anything like it before.''
A rash of mudpuppies have been caught around Montrose and Navy Pier. Around Thanksgiving tends to be when I catch them or when readers report them. This year there just has been more reports, especially at Navy Pier, than I have heard in other years.
I really enjoyed Morales' photo and, probably because my kids are of the right age, it reminded me of the dark dragon Toothless befriended by Hiccup in ``How to train your Dragon.''
BTW, as a hunter, I find parts of "How to Train Your Drago,'' both laughable and galling. Yet, I truly enjoyed it as a movie.
Morales' mudpuppy was Wild of the Week, a somewhat regular feature on Sundays in the Sun-Times outdoors page.
E-mail nominations for WOTW to straycasts@sbcglobal.net.
Are these native ? What are they in real terms ? We see them on the river sometimes also .
Jeff, native.
Here is the word from the Illinois Natural History Survey
http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/animals_plants/herps/species/ne_maculos.html
And from National Geographic
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/mudpuppy/
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, add a mustache and a cheap stoogie...........