Wonders of Wildlife: Spotted Salamander

Spotted Salamander

Other Common Names: Yellow-spotted salamander

Scientific Name: Ambystoma maculatum

Found in Alabama: Common statewide except in a few counties in southern Alabama. Population may be declining.

Diet: Carnivore (eats animals)		  
Spotted Salamander
Dreamstime
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Learn more about...
 
Classification Button
Identification
Adaptations Button
Life Cycle
Habitat Needs
Ecological Role Button
 


 
CLASSIFICATION
What type of animal am I?
  • I am a vertebrate (an animal with a spine or backbone).
  • I am cold-blooded, so I cannot control my body temperature.
  • I do not have scales, feathers, or fur, so I have smooth skin.
  • I breathe through my skin.
  • I have 4 legs.
Scientists use basic traits to group animals into different taxonomic classes.  

For a taxonomic classification chart comparing key traits of common backyard wildlife,
CLICK HERE!
The Spotted Salamander is an AMPHIBIAN!
 



















 


 
IDENTIFICATION TIPS
adult spotted salamander
Spotted Salamander
Virginia Herpetological Society
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 ADULT SPOTTED SALAMANDER
  • Range from 6-9.5 inches in length from head to tail
  • Black, brown or gray with two rows of yellow or orange spots along their back
  • Males and females look alike
  • Females tend to be slightly larger than male
JUVENILE SPOTTED SALAMANDER
spotten salamander larva
Spotted Salamander larva
Virginia Herpetological Society
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  • Larvae (newly hatched young) are lighter in color and have external gills that look like feathery antlers
  • Juveniles who have gone through metamorphosis (physical changes) look similar to adult, but smaller.






 
 








 
 






 
 

 
ADAPTATIONS
 
PHYSICAL ADAPTATIONS
 
  Spotted salamanders defend themselves using poison:  
  • When threatened, spotted salamaders produce a poisonous fluid from a gland in their head and tail.
  • This substance tastes bad to predators (animals that eat them) and can cause a burning feeling in the predator's mouth.
Spotted salamander oozing poison
Virginia Herpetological Society - Paul Sattler
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  Spotted salamanders can regenerate (regrow) body parts: 
  • If a spotted salamander is injured and loses limbs or some organs, it is capable of regenerating (regrowing or growing new) them.
  • Unlike some salamanders that can drop their tails on purpose when threatened, spotted salamanders regenerate after injury.
  • Spotted salamanders and closely related species, such as Mexican Axolotls (Ambystoma mexicana), are capable of regrowing limbs, finger, toes, eyes, hearts, spinal cords, and even up to a quarter of their brain!
  • When a spotted salamander loses a limb, their bodies know where on the limb the amputation occurred, and they are able to regrow a new limb from that place with all of the necessary parts, including bone, muscle, veins, and nerves. The limb will eventually grow to its original size.
 
 
BEHAVIORAL ADAPTATIONS
 
  Spotted salamanders are nocturnal:
  • They are nocturnal (active during the night) which helps them avoid predators (animals that eat them).
 
  Spotted salamanders use burrows:
  • Spotted salamanders are fossorial, meaning that they spend most of their life underground in their burrows.
  • They are rarely seen except during breeding season.
  • During warm, dry days, spotted salamanders use burrows or root tunnels to stay cool and damp.
  • If a threat is spotted, they use the tunnel as an escape.
  • In the winter, spotted salamanders use these burrows to enter a state of hibernation (becoming dormant as if they are in a deep sleep).  They emerge and become active in the spring when temperatures become warmer.
spotten salamander emerging from burrow
Spotted Salamander emerging from burrow
Chris Welter
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  Slimy salamanders are Predators:
  • Spotted salamanders are sit-and-wait predators that wait for prey (animals that they eat) to come near them rather than hunting.
  • At night when it is cooler, they sit at the entrance of the burrow, waiting to ambush prey.
  • When prey comes close, the salamander will use its sticky tongue to caoture the prey and bring it to them.
   
  Spotted Salamanders have Spring Migrations:
  • As the weather starts to get warmer in spring, spotted salamanders leave the burrows that they spend most of the year in so that they can reproduce.
  • Spotted salamanders will travel up to a mile, risking predation and being run over by cars, to reach the exact same vernal ponds (shallow temporary ponds that occur after heavy spring rains) year after year.
  • When the first spring rains happen, all of the males leave their burrows at night to return to the vernal ponds where they were born.
  • The next night, all the females leave their burrows as well to go join the males.
  • Males court females by nudging their heads together, and they pick a spot where the female lays her eggs.
  • After the eggs are laid, the adult salamanders leave the pond and return to their burrows until next spring.
Spotted Salamanders in vernal pond
Lang Elliot
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The Friends of Shade Creek group near Birmingham, AL has a wonderful annual Salamander Festival at which they celebrate the spotted salamander and its migration. For more info, check out their website. 





 
 



































 




 



























 

 
LIFE CYCLE
     
Egg:  
  • Spotted salamander females lay up to 1,000 eggs in 2-4 masses each breeding season in shallow, temporary ponds or wetlands.
  • These eggs are coated in a thick, jelly-like substance to protect the eggs from drying out and to protect them from predators.
  • Spotted salamanders lay their eggs near algae that helps the eggs breathe while they are coated with the jelly. This is called a symbiotic relationship (two different species that live together and interact).
  • Females leave eggs after laying them and provide no parental care.
spotted salamander egg mass
Spotted Salamander Egg Mass
Virginia Herpetological Society
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Larvae:  












   
  • Once the larvae (newly hatched young) emerge from eggs, they are independent and live in the waterway where they hatched.
  • Larvae have 4 weak legs and use a large tail to swim.
  • Larvae breathe using external gills which work like a fish's gills but look like feathery antlers on the side of their head.
  • Spotted slamanders live as larvae for 6-12 weeks.
spotted salamander larva
Spotted Salamamder larva
© John White
Click image to enlarge it
     
Juvenile: 









  
  • As a spotted salamander undergoes metamorphosis (physical changes) from larvae to adult, its legs grow and become stronger, and its tail changes shape.
  • Juveniles lose their external gills and use lungs to breathe as they leave the pond they were born in.
  • Juveniles look the same as adult spotted salamanders, but are much smaller. 
  • It takes juveniles about 5 years to mature and become adults.
spotted salamander juvenile
Juvenile Spotted Salamamder size
compared to a penny
Virginia Herpetological Society
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Life Span:  
  • Spotted salamanders can live up to 20 years.

 
NATURAL
Habitat Needs		 ADULTS YOUNG
Food
  • Will eat invertebrates (animals without a backbone) including earthworms, snails, spiders, and beetles.
  • Will eat aquatic invertebrates (animals without a backbone) including zooplankton, copepods, and isopods.
Water
  • Moisture is essential for keeping their bodies moist and hydrated.
  • This is especially important because they breathe through their skin as adults and in water as larvae.
Shelter
  • Live in moist forested areas, river bottomed hardwood forests, and near shallow waterways including ephemeral (temporary) ponds and wetlands.
  • Can be found under rotting logs, rocks, rock crevices, and other debris.
  • Live in shallow waterways, including ephemeral (temporary) ponds and wetlands.
Places to Raise Young
  • Eggs are laid in shallow temporary pools or wetlands.
  


















 

 













 
BACKYARD
Habitat Needs		 ADULTS YOUNG
Food
  • Avoid using fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides which would negatively impact invertebrates (animals without a backbone), which is the food source for salamanders.
Water
  • Provide a still or slow-moving water source such as a shallow pond.
  • Do not remove moist, decaying logs or other natural debris. 
Shelter
  • Plant marginal aquatic plants in sources of water such as a shallow pond to help provide cover from predators.
  • Do not remove rocks, rotting logs, or other natural debris that can also provide shelter.
Places to Raise Young
  • Provide a still or slow-moving water source such as a shallow pond where females can lay egg masses.
  








 











 








 
 
ECOLOGICAL ROLE
   
Animals play an important ecological role in the health of habitats and ecosystems.
   

Food Source:  
  • Snakes are the main predators (animals that eat them) of spotted salamanders.
  • They may also provide a food source for birds and small mammals.
Insect Population Control:  
  • Spotted salamanders eat a lot of insects which helps limit the populations of pest insects, including mosquitoes.

Soil Dynamics:  
  • The burrowing behavior of the slimy salamander may play a role in introducing air to the soil (aeration).
  • This process can help move nutrients and water through the soil.

 


INFORMATION SOURCES FOR THIS SPECIES

National Library of Medicine: National Center for Biotechnology Information - Model systems for regeneration: salamanders.

Scientific American - Junk DNA Deforms Salamander Bodies
 
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