Whistling thrush and torrent toad micro-habitats: Horton Plains Arrenga Pool stream rapids?
What boulder-cascade hydrodynamics sustain the rare endemic Ceylon Torrent Toad (Adenomus kelaartii) along shaded streams at Horton Plains?
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3 Answers from travellers
The Ceylon Torrent Toad (Adenomus kelaartii) is specialized for life in torrential, cold mountain streams. In shaded water cascades around Arrenga Pool in Horton Plains (2,100m elevation), adults cling to vertical, spray-drenched granite rock faces using enlarged adhesive finger and toe discs. Tadpoles are morphologically adapted for fast currents: they possess an enlarged, suctorial ventral mouth disc that acts as an anchor on slick submerged rocks, allowing them to graze algal biofilm in foaming rapids without being swept down waterfalls.
They share this montane stream corridor with the elusive Sri Lanka Whistling Thrush, which forages along mossy culvert pools during dawn and dusk.
Trout introduced during the colonial era to highland streams compete with and prey upon native amphibian tadpoles in upper stream sections.
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