Fire Salamanders Face Great Threat From Skin Eating Fungus

A new species of skin eating fungus is threatening the population of fire salamander in Netherlands almost to the brink of extinction.

The  fire salamander has characteristic yellow spots or stripes. These species have a long life span crossing 50 years. Since 2010, there has been a drastic decline in their population. Their numbers have dropped to just 10 individuals, less than four percent of its original number.

The reason for their near extinction has been explained by a team of scientists from Ghent University, Imperial College London, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Dutch conservation group Ravon. The group found that a fungus named Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (salamander eating) is responsible for wiping out the fire salamanders from Netherlands They discovered this after isolating a new species of fungus from a dead salamander.

Fungi are a major threat to biodiversity. Another fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a species related to the new fungus, has infected the reptilian population worldwide and has been a major cause for disappearance of 200 species across the globe. It is responsible for the deadly chytridiomycosis, which according to the IUCN, is a devastating infectious disease that attacks vertebrate animals.

According to the study's lead author, Professor An Martel, University of Ghent, amphibians earlier  managed to co-exist with Bd in many regions including northern Europe. But the emergence of the new fungus has triggered mass mortalities in areas where earlier the amphibian populations were healthy.

"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," co-author Professor Matthew Fisher, from Imperial College London, said in a statement. "Our experience with Bd has shown that fungal diseases can spread between amphibian populations across the world very quickly. We need to act urgently to determine what populations are in danger and how best to protect them."

The newly discovered fungus can spread between salamanders by direct contact. The fungus invades the skin and destroys it completely. It is still unknown whether the other species also face a threat from this fungus.

In order to protect the species, the scientists have brought the surviving salamanders into captivity and have developed a diagnostic tool that will help in early detection of the fungus attack.

The research was funded by the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, the European Research Council and Biodiversa.