Whiptail Lizard Gone Fishing
Quick disclaimer, the lizard we’re looking for tonight is most likely the San Diegan Tiger Whiptail, Aspidoscelis tigris stejnegeri (the southern Californian subspecies), however the article is about California whiptail, Aspidoscelis tigris munda (the northern-ish/ central Californian subspecies).
Since they’re the same species, I’m still going to use the article since it’s so dang interesting!
With that being said let’s get into it!
When I was doing my grad research in SE Arizona, I used to on occasion see Yarrow’s spiny lizard, Sceloporus jarrovii, jump into the shallow part of the stream and swim away from predators (me and my undergrads). A few challenges ago, we talked about western fence lizards eating marine invertebrates, so for me, it only makes sense that we’ll now talk about lizards eating fish!
Connor Long, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
While sampling for aquatic vertebrates along the Coyote Creek Watershed in central California, Leidy et al, witnessed a whiptail lizard actively foraging along the perimeter of a isolated pool. This particular section of Coyote Creek is ephemeral - it dries up for part of the year. When this happens, many small pools are left over until eventually, they dry up too.
After 15 seconds of scanning the pool that was only deep enough to cover an apple, the whiptail plunges its head into the water and emerges with a coastal roach (fish), about the size length of a lime. It then sprinted away to devour its prize. Throughout the rest of their surveys, the scientist found whiptail lizards foraging around the stream, pools, and recently dried pools. Although they didn’t observe the lizards catching anymore prey, they did not that there was plenty of prey in the area for the lizards to consume.
Sometimes when you’re out in nature, you nature just happens in front of you and you can make these cool observations. But while I have your attention here on your electronic device, I have one question.\
Can you #FindThatLizard?
Let me know in the comments with #FoundThatLizard!
