Since 2010, scientists have been documenting a dramatic drop in the number of Fire salamanders in the forests of the Netherlands, but until now were unsure of the cause of the 4% decrease in the original population size. Now down to just 10 individuals and on the brink of extinction, the cause of the Fire salamander's demise has been identified as a deadly skin-eating fungal disease called Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, which initially attacks the salamander's skin and eventually destroys it completely.
Co-author of the study, Professor Matthew Fisher, reports from Imperial College London stating, "It is a complete mystery why we are seeing this outbreak now, and one explanation is that the new salamander-killing fungus has invaded the Netherlands from elsewhere in the world. We need to know if this is the case, why it is so virulent, and what its impact on amphibian communities will be on a local and global scale."
A related fungus known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has previously been identified by scientists and has resulted in the loss of over 200 amphibian species around the world, resulting in the title by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature of the
“single most devastating infectious disease in vertebrate animals” as reported by Science Recorder
Fire salamanders have since been brought into captivity for protection and special diagnostic tools have been developed to quickly and accurately detect the presence of the fungus. Luckily it does not appear that the fungus has yet spread outside the Netherlands.
Image Courtesy of: Wikimedia Commons
