Karl Günter Wünsch
01-25-2008, 01:31 PM
http://www.lithos-mineralien.de/birdphotographers/leucitic_firesalamander_bp.jpg
In Germany fire salamanders are still found in abundance locally but they are a protected species. Unfortunately they react quite badly to deterioration of their living conditions, especially hurting their reproduction cycle, which requires clear spring water. So while in some areas you may still encounter some of the very long lived adults a population may already be in decline or on the verge of dissapearing alltogether.
Luckily there are areas where the population is still intact, as is this population between Remscheid and Wuppertal where I have found (together with a fellow photographer) this rare specimen which is a part albino as it still has the yellow skin colour but can't produce the normal black colour... This is an adult, one of four at least that we know of (as we have pictures of them and the yellow markings which do not change in adulthood are different on each), so the colour aberration doesn't seem to be hindering their survival.
Canon 20D, Tamron 90mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro, 1/250, f/13, one Sigma 500 DG Super as Master on a macro bracket, one Sigma 500 DG Super as slave directed at a reflector. Slight crop for compositional purposes.
--
regards
Karl Günter
In Germany fire salamanders are still found in abundance locally but they are a protected species. Unfortunately they react quite badly to deterioration of their living conditions, especially hurting their reproduction cycle, which requires clear spring water. So while in some areas you may still encounter some of the very long lived adults a population may already be in decline or on the verge of dissapearing alltogether.
Luckily there are areas where the population is still intact, as is this population between Remscheid and Wuppertal where I have found (together with a fellow photographer) this rare specimen which is a part albino as it still has the yellow skin colour but can't produce the normal black colour... This is an adult, one of four at least that we know of (as we have pictures of them and the yellow markings which do not change in adulthood are different on each), so the colour aberration doesn't seem to be hindering their survival.
Canon 20D, Tamron 90mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro, 1/250, f/13, one Sigma 500 DG Super as Master on a macro bracket, one Sigma 500 DG Super as slave directed at a reflector. Slight crop for compositional purposes.
--
regards
Karl Günter