Red Eft

 

An especially bright Red Eft, the juvenile stage of the Red-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), poses nicely on a lichen-covered rock on a forested slope in Shawnee State Forest in Scioto County, Ohio. Last Wednesday was damp and cool, and many efts were no doubt on the move. The orange coloration is classic aposematism: warning coloration alerting potential predators that the wearer of such colors is toxic. Efts are infused with tetrotodoxin, a powerful neurotoxin, the same compound found in deadly pufferfish. Red Efts boldly march about the forest floor on damp days and are always a treat to encounter. This one was photographed in situ; I did not move him to the showy lichen-dappled rock. Occasionally one cooperates nicely, and this was such a beast.