Length: 5-10 inches.                                                                     

Color: Yellowish, red, and brown.

Habitat: Ponds, marshes, swamps, dugouts, reservoirs, sewage lagoons, and slow moving streams and rivers.

Range: Quebec south through New York and Pennsylvania to Tennessee.

Diet: Insects, earthworms, fish, snails, crayfish, frogs, carrion, and most species of aquatic macrophytes.

Notes: All food is swallowed with the head underwater.  They really like to bask on floating logs in water.