Ct. river Rockyhill

I caught the ugliest thing down at the river today. Never saw one and all the people that came over to look at this strange had never seen one! I looked it up on the web, pictures and all. Mudpuppy. 12" long, brown with black spots and external gill structures, four legs . Any one know how common these are?

Fairly common, though I have never caught one, but don't fish bait a lot in the river either.
12" seems a little bigger than I recall hearing about

Isn't that some kind of salamander?