Despite the acknowledged loss of habitat and human impacts, the federal wildlife agency has not listed the lizard as threatened or endangered.
Say you paddle out to Atsena Otie, explore the beach and move some driftwood to sit and have a snack. Then you spy a little brown-and-orange skink.
Consider yourself lucky. It could be a Cedar Key mole skink. They are found on only seven islands in the Gulf of Mexico near their namesake and are the subject of an expected lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
At issue is the service's failure to act on a petition to list the skink as threatened or endangered, said Elise Bennett, an attorney for the center.
“It’s been waiting for five years — far beyond the one-year deadline they are supposed to have a decision by. It’s especially concerning because the service has already found that protecting the species might be warranted,” Bennett said. “As with many island species, sea level rise is going to be a growing concern for a lizard that lives on islands and enjoys coastal habitat along the sandy beaches.”
The center has filed a required notice of intent to sue the federal agency, which will have 60 days to respond. If nothing changes, Bennett said, the center will sue.
In 2012 the center petitioned the service to list the skink and dozens of other reptiles and amphibians under the federal Endangered Species Act. The petition, which was supported by other individuals and groups, states the skink has been impacted by habitat destruction from development, particularly development that affects sand dunes.
In 2015 the service said that the listing of the Cedar Key skink might be needed.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service finds that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating the petitioned action may be warranted,” said a document on the service’s website. “The petitioner presented substantial information on the following factors: Present or threatened destruction, modification or curtailment of its habitat or range; overutilization for commercial purposes; other natural or man-made factors affecting its continued existence.”
For an animal that is only about 4 inches long as an adult, the Cedar Key mole skink is getting a lot of attention.
Kevin Enge, a Gainesville-based research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, may know as much about the Cedar Key skink as anyone.
It’s been found on seven islands — Cedar Key and adjoining Airport Island plus Seahorse Key, Snake Key, Scale Key, North Key and Atsena Otie.
“It’s a small lizard and basically spends its time in the sand under tidal wrack and debris along the shoreline,” Enge said. “Somehow they’ve colonized those islands. They’ve gone through hurricanes — they are kind of tough little animals. You find them by going along the shoreline, especially the upper shoreline, and raking debris. They eat little insects and arthropods, and possibly little crabs.”
Adults have brownish bodies with a lighter lengthwise stripe. Their tails are dull orange. But the likelihood of seeing a Cedar Key mole skink without specifically searching for one is as small as the animal itself because of their rarity and preference for living under debris.
The skinks may have gotten to the islands by rafting on floating vegetation, Enge said. Or they could be isolated remnants from ages ago when water levels were much lower and the islands were part of the mainland.
By far, Enge said, the Cedar Key species has the smallest distribution of any lizard in Florida.
In one respect, the Cedar Key mole skink doesn’t get much respect from Enge.
“Skinks tend to have bright-colored tails, but the Cedar Key mole skink is the ugliest of the bunch,” Enge said.
Incidentally, all skinks are lizards, but not all lizards are skinks. Skinks generally have a more tubular shape than lizards and shinier scales.