Between 250 and 300 endangered salamanders disappeared from the San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center during the Thanksgiving holiday, baffling biologists and leaving them scrambling to replace backup populations kept on hand in case of a die-off in the wild. The facility didn’t house any of Austin’s famous Barton Springs salamanders, but researchers in Austin, where a small population lives in captivity, say they’re now on heightened alert.
The missing stock included mostly Texas blind salamanders, pale, 3- to 4-inch amphibians with frilly gills and the ability to regenerate lost limbs, but several San Marcos salamanders vanished as well, according to a report by the San Marcos Police Department. It valued the loss at $15,000… Read more from MyStatesman.com