My pond is well stocked with Yellow Perch, Smallmouth Bass, and Channel Cat's and today I tossed in some pellet food to see if the Perch were interested. They were!

I know there are decent sized 14" bass in the pond as I caught and released one a few days ago.

I have a lot of Eastern Red Spotted Newt's. All around the pond I can see them coming to the surface for a sip of air and slowly drifting back down to the shallows.

So why does it seem the Bass aren't eating them? Are they toxic to the fish? The way they act, just free floating in the water column, makes me think they don't feel threatened. Just curious, are salamanders on the Small Mouth Bass's dinner menu?

I did not know what they were so looked them up. Found this:

"They are the only species of New England salamander that can co-exist with populations of fish. This is because newts secrete noxious substances from their skin."

Red Spotted Newt - reference here

Interesting creatures.

I will never EVER forget the time I saw a two foot long hellbender come out from under a submerged tree, I guess to eat something, and then quickly turn around back under the tree.

Happened 50 years ago along the banks of the flooded Chazy River where it flows into Lake Champlain. Never seen anything like it since. What a salamander!

Wow, I guess a 2 foot Hellbender salamander doesn't get eaten because of respect. My little newts must just taste bad.

Thanks for the link.

PaPond,

The common newts we have in this area excrete a toxin is that is deadly to most critters that eat them, including fish, other amphibians, etc. Somehow the fish and other critters know this.

The newts most of us have in our ponds in this area spend their first one or two years as orange salamanders. During their second or third season they turn almost black. Color doesn't matter. They are still toxic to the various predators in and around our ponds.

I've got incredible numbers of them. This time of year I like to rake the leaves that have settled near the pond edges. Each rakeful of leaves has a number of these newts.

They really don't pose much of a threat to humans. However, I still wash my hands in hot soapy water after I've handled a bunch of them.

I am curious now...So what controls their population if they have no predators? Available forage?

Catmandoo is the only I can think of who would eat them for sure.

Sparkie still has lots of the woods left in him, and might consume one or two in a pinch. Come to think of it, I seem to remember him discussing in a prior thread his ongoing struggles to find a recipe for newt mam, otherwise known as Indiana Red Newt Sauce. If I recall, he wasn't having much success, which might explain his more recent and highly successful forays into maple and walnut syrups.

What we need to do is some serious marketing. The Japanese eat deadly poisonous fish raw, after all. The danger is part of the allure, and folks pay a very pretty price.

Why not for red newts, maybe as an appetizer?

I believe a Great Blue Heron would eat them. I often have them stalking the edges of my pond.

I just checked and their range includes Texas. Last year I had the pleasure of attending the Texas State Fair. The one thing I learned was they deep fry everything down there. That tells me since no one was selling deep fried red spotted newts, there's no market.

Haha. Yeah, we do enjoy our deep fried...everything.

Here's a brief list for the fun of it:
http://greatideas.people.com/2014/10/09/texas-state-fair-fried-foods/

Now, back to the topic at hand. I was bored at work so I thought I would look into this. Couldn't find much as for any specific predators. Here are a couple of snippets I came across.

“What eats me”
Red efts are thought to be brilliantly colored in order to advertise to potential predators that they are toxic. The juvenile salamanders produce toxic skin secretions when attacked, and many animals have learned not to eat them. Despite their toxicity, juveniles as well as adults are preyed upon by many animals, including birds, fish, insects, leeches, and other amphibians.

Natural Enemies:
Red-spotted newts have several natural predators such as leaches (preying on newt larvae and ectoparasites on aquatic adults), frogs, turtles, birds and fishes.