Atlantic salt marsh mink

The Atlantic salt marsh mink (Neogale vison lutensis), or Florida mink is a subspecies of the American mink (Neogale vison). The Atlantic salt marsh mink is one of four subspecies of mink found in Florida.^[4]

Atlantic salt marsh mink Temporal range: Holocene–recent[1]
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (NatureServe)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Caniformia
Family:	Mustelidae
Genus:	Neogale
Species:	N. vison
Subspecies:	N. v. lutensis
Trinomial name
Neogale vison lutensis (Bangs, 1898)
Range in 2007[3]

The mink have been tracked down "by using an upside-down bucket floating on a small raft", which proved to be more successful than the initial "spotlight" method.^[5]

Geographic distribution

The Atlantic salt marsh mink is strictly found on the eastern coastal marshes of northern Florida, Georgia and southern South Carolina. They are mostly found in Nassau County and Duval County.^[5]

Description

Build

The Atlantic salt marsh mink is different than other kinds of mink by its medium size and large head.^[6] The subspecies' teeth are large, and the only other kind of mink that has upper molars as large is the Southern mink of Louisiana (Neogale vison vulgivaga).^[7] Its tail is rather shorter than other kinds of mink.^[8]

Fur

The Atlantic salt marsh mink's fur generally more pale than other of other mink.^[9] Its colour ranges from "russet to clay or reddish brown".^[10]