Mudpuppy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large aquatic salamander native to North America that keeps its feathery external gills throughout life ; a freshwater sculpin or fish sometimes given the same nickname by anglers
2. North American amphibian with bushy red gills that lives in ponds and streams ; a small bottom-dwelling freshwater fish that anglers also call by this name
3. An entirely aquatic salamander of eastern North America with feathery external gills ; a bottom-feeding fish of freshwater waters that fishermen sometimes refer to by the same term

Etymology: A mudpuppy is a North American salamander that spends its whole life in water, and its name combines two ordinary words. "Mud" is the familiar word for wet earth, while "puppy" was used for a young dog. The name is said to come from the animal's barking-like sound, which is the source of its odd resemblance to a small dog's yap. The naming is a plain compound rather than a borrowing from another language. Its charm lies in how two unrelated ideas were joined: a creature that lives in river bottoms was described by the sound it makes, and that sound was likened to a young dog's voice.

Synonyms: waterdog