Siberian Salamander - Northern Dragon

In the Far North of Russia, everything has small dimensions, except for the size of uninhabited territories. The Siberian salamander, which has a length of 4 "-6", can be called a dragon larva. I walked a lot in the swamps, but in my 36 years I have never met this secret amphibian. It is likely that I met them, but could not distinguish from the dark bottom of the reservoir. Now it is spring and it's time to multiply, which means that all the amphibians rushed to the water.

Of course, I did not miss the great opportunity to shoot newts and at the same time fulfill my old dream, to see these amazing creatures. They can be frozen into the ice for centuries, and then thaw and continue their secret life. For a start, I went in search of puddles according to the description given to me by my friend who inherited newts. The road was explained to me purely in a feminine way, so I found the wrong puddles. The first attempt failed. On the second attempt to find tritons, I asked my friend to show where she had seen these animals. Naturally, except for the masonry, I did not see anything. The second attempt was unsuccessful. The third time I went to puddles armed with GoPro and a camera in the underwater box.

In the puddle, a few more eggs with caviar were found, and one was almost completely eaten, only two eggs remained intact. In order not to go empty-handed, I photographed my findings.

And here is the culprit of the death of future newts. Larva of a dragonfly, an evil predator, capable of killing a small fish or even the newt.

One by one I went around puddles and did not find any angular creatures, it upset me, but there was no thought of stopping the search. In one of the puddles, the bottom was covered with beautiful algae with a lot of air bubbles. Seeing no one in the water, I went into the water and lowered the aquabox to remove at least this beautiful underwater world. Already in the evening, looking at photos on the computer, was very surprised. Right in front of the camera, in the foreground, a newt was crawling through the grass, it was out of harshness, but it was recognizable! Below is a photo.

Early the next morning I had planned to go camping and we had to go to bed early, but instead of sleeping I brought the camera and underwater lights to go shoot newts. My friend refused to help me with the night shooting and I persuaded Yana to go with me to the field. My companion very easily found newts in the water, even among the grass, it took me a while to learn to see them. After a while, I began to see the salamander almost immediately, as soon as I approached the water, noticing even those that burrowed into the grass or froze.

My assistant lit a new-lamp with newts, and I tried to approach them with a camera so as not to stir up the water and not scare. This is not easy to do, walking on the muddy bottom. The larvae of a mosquito were gathering in the flock. Thanks to the stable light of the flashlight, I was not worried about the sight of my models and shot them with a flash.

Lifting the suspension was inevitable, and even the newt tried to hide. Watching him, I realized that with the appearance of someone in the pond, they are buried in the mud, or dive to the bottom of the dark, that's why I could not see them, as their disguise promoted reflection on the water surface. The bottom with green algae in air bubbles was the most picturesque. It is worth to come here in a wet suit and lie down on the surface of the water, so as not to raise the dregs. So shooting should be more effective. When it became impossible to shoot because of the suspension, we went to another pond.

Sometimes it was possible to take several newts at once.

Here, just three in the grass.

Tritons spawn eggs by attaching it to a strong blade of grass near the surface of the water. Not all blades of grass are suitable for this. On the frame above, one newt climbed onto the blade of grass, determining whether it was suitable for masonry.

Tritons very quickly get used to the light, and if you do not make any sudden movements in the water, they can shoot right up. Since I had to take pictures without sighting, all the frames were made at random and often I missed the focus, but then luck was on my side.

The picture shows a narrowed pupil.
To postpone in the photo the process of laying eggs was not yet successful. On the way back, we inspected all the puddles and in one deep ditch we saw a large number of newts. This is where you must make a dive! And this must be done urgently! It remains to go through the hydro-suit to the place of shooting, trying not to attract the attention of the orderlies and the police.
This is all for now.

With you was Alexei Raven with a special report from the garden ditches of Magadan :)