What is this animal I so vividly remember?

[u/Bellow-0]

Okay so, as a kid (about 10 or 11) I visited this creek in north Alabama (where I live) most summers. This was a rural area. I vividly remember seeing this animal multiple times and I never knew what it was. (I think it is some kind of fish, mollusc, or amphibian)

It was small about the size of a semi-newley hatched tadpole. It was black in color. It was also the shape of a tadpole (an oval with a tail) but with small stalks (for lack of a better word) all over it's body. It hung arround the bottom of the creek and near the smaller rocks. I only ever saw it underwater. I know it was not a peice of trash and was certainly alive because it evaded capture. I had seen it several times over many years, probably not the same one.

I returned to that creek a few years ago and I could not find one, but the creek did get a bit polluted unfortunately.

This has pissed me off for years because I love animals and know a lot about a lot of different kinds and I can't figure out what the hell it was.

I would be very appreciative if y'all could help me with this issue that has plauged me for years. Thank you.

[u/MonsterFonster]

Maybe a salamander tadpole? They have those frilly gill things. Might be why they’re gone now, they’re sensitive to pollution/changes

[u/Bellow-0 → u/MonsterFonster]

That actually might have been it, thank you

[u/MintWarfare]

Could it have been a tadpole with legs?

[u/Bellow-0 → u/MintWarfare]

No it had way more stalks that a tadpole would have legs

[u/HortonFLK]

This thing…?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triops_longicaudatus

[u/Bellow-0 → u/HortonFLK]

No it was small and black

[u/m_zelenka]

Could it be a horseshoe crab?