Seen This Week: Complicated Frog and a “Nuisance” Fish

5 July 2025

The Frog:

I hardly ever see treefrogs so I used to be thrilled when this one froze in place on my brother’s porch in Charlottesville, VA. My husband noticed it earlier than I did; he stated it was inexperienced. By the point I took its picture, above, it was gentle brown.

I assumed figuring out it could be straightforward however Not! Google Lens says it’s both a grey treefrog (Dryophytes versicolor) or Cope’s grey treefrog (Dryophytes chrysoscelis). Each change their pores and skin coloration to match the background so don’t be fooled by the colours on this side-by-side comparability.

In accordance with Wikipedia they’re virtually indistinguishable from one another and the one “readily noticeable distinction between the 2 species is the mating name.” The frog was silent.

Might I determine it out by vary? Not straightforward in Virginia. Each are current and their ranges overlap. Fortuitously I discovered the Herping Virginia web site with vary maps on the county degree that point out Cope’s grey treefrog has not been reported in Albemarle County (location of Charlottesvillle) whereas the grey treefrog appears to be in every single place there.

I’ve made this embedded map deliberately tiny so that you’ll click on to view the true maps at Herping Virginia: Grey Treefrog Advanced (Dryophytes versicolor & chrysoscelis).

The Fish:

Once I stopped by Duck Hole on Thursday a person within the car parking zone identified this enormous fish within the shallow water just under us. My picture has no sense of scale however suffice it to say the fish was about 15 ft beneath and appeared to be 4 ft lengthy. The person stated it was a carp.

Widespread carp (Cyprinus carpio) are Eurasian fish launched in lots of locations world wide together with within the U.S. the place they have been stocked as a meals fish. However nobody eats them anymore. At this level they’re a “nuisance” fish.

Was the fish actually 4 ft lengthy? Wiki says: “The common dimension of the widespread carp is round 40–80 cm (16–31 inches) and a pair of–14 kg (4.4–30.9 lb).”

Hmmm. A Fish Story.