Up to 300 live, endangered salamanders disappeared from a federal facility south of Austin over Thanksgiving, and authorities say they may have been stolen because of a potential black market value of $15,000.
The Austin American Statesman reports that most of those missing are Texas blind salamanders. They are pale, 3- to 4-inch amphibians with frilly gills that can regenerate lost limbs and are believed to live only in roughly 25-square miles of aquifer beneath San Marcos.
It's also possible a predator got into the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center, removed the lids from the salamanders' covered tanks and ate them without being detected.
San Marcos police are working with the agency to investigate. The facility's 120-acre campus is about 35 miles from Austin.
