Waterdogs

The Dogs take down the Blue Deacons

BROOKSIDE - The "waterdog" is a large (8 inches long), aquatic salamander that permanently retains larval characteristics such as external gills. This species is listed as endangered and is only found in streams within the Black Warrior River Basin in Alabama. According to the experts, there are only a few hundred still in existence. The species once could be found in medium to large streams within the basin including, but not limited to, the Sipsey Fork, Brushy Creek, Rush Creek, Locust Fork, Gurley Creek, Yellow Creek, Brown Creek, Black Creek and Five Mile Creek. Most of these streams contained sites with intact physical characteristics like clay, or bedrock substrate with little sand. Most of these sites also contained abundant rock crevices and rock slabs, as well as other factors that were considered key physical and biological features condusive to the waterdog. Heavy siltation could reduce cover, food and smother the nests and eggs of the waterdog. Waterdogs are sensitive creatures that breathe through external gills and permeable skin. In the cold air, the amphibians look dark, slimy, and nondescript, but once in clear water, they transform into the fantastical: Blood-red, oxygenated gills unfurl, floating in a feathery cloud around shovel-shaped heads. A black stripe slashes each cheek like war paint, and their skin color ranges from creamy white to dark brown to black, flecked with subtle gold. The body of a waterdog is flat and compressed, so they can work their way under rocks and into crevices at the bottoms of the streams. Their shape helps them withstand flooding and they can get down in relatively shallow water. The tail is paddle-shaped, affording them excellent aquatic navigability. Waterdogs were once abundant across the Black Warrior watershed, but years of habitat degradation, including sedimentation from coal mining and waste runoff from poultry farming, have taken their toll. ADEM dropped the ball. Today, they’ve mostly disappeared except in certain segments of the clean, protected waters within the Bankhead National Forest. The waterdog is considered an Alabama treasure. A shining example of the incredible assortment of life found in the state’s rivers and streams, a true global hotspot of freshwater biodiversity. To survive and thrive, all the waterdog needs is clean, free-flowing water, just like all of us. In Week 11 of the BDFL, the Dogs celebrated the outdoors and clean living by hosting the Blue Deacons to Brookside for a camp out and ball game down along the Five Mile at the ball park. Somehow things got out of hand late in the contest and the local Crookside Police Department was called to fine the visitors and escort the Blount County bunch back out to I-22 for the long way home.

Black Water by the Doobie Brothers (1974)