Pacific Northwest
Reptiles & Amphibians
Taricha granulosa - Rough-skinned Newt
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Related or Similar Northwest Salamanders:
Northwestern Salamander
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Adult, Grays Harbor County, Washington |
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| Adult, breeding aquatic phase, Pacific County, Washington | Adult in defensive posture, with coiled tail. Lewis County, Washington |
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Adult underwater, Douglas County Oregon |
Adult, in defensive pose, Douglas County Oregon | Adult, in defensive pose, Douglas County Oregon |
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Adult, underwater in a small pool at the edge of a river, Douglas County Oregon |
From above, the eyes do not reach the outline of the head, while those of T. t. torosa do. | Lower eyelids are dark. Eye has a yellow patch, unlike the solid black eyes of T. rivularis. |
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| Egg on submerged blade of grass, Thurston County, Washington. © 2004 William Leonard |
Large mass of adult newts underwater in early September, southern Oregon There are aprox. 2000 newts in this mass, according to David Mikkelsen. He has observed that after the spring breeding season the newts congregate in underwater leaf litter in the shaded still water at the edge of this river and stay there until the beginning of the fall rains when they once again return to the surrounding forest. |
Gilled metamorph found on land and photographed underwater. |
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Larva (in water) |
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Metamorphs, found on land at the edge of a pond, and photographed underwater. Notice the trace of gills remaining
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Habitat |
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| Habitat, Douglas County, Oregon | Breeding pond, Benton County, Oregon |
Breeding pond, Pacific County, Washington |
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Breeding pond, Thurston County, Washington |
The newts at Crater Lake, Klamath County, Oregon, are dark sometimes with dark undersides. Some herpetologists recognize them as a different subspecies:Taricha granulosa mazamae - The Crater Lake Rough-skinned Newt. | Habitat, Grays Harbor County, Washington |
Short Video |
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Rough-skinned newts move around the rocky shallow margins of a river in Douglas County, Oregon, occasionally coming up for air. |
A few gentle taps on the back of a Rough-skinned Newt causes it to take a passive defensive posture, raising its tail and head to display the bright orange color of its underside which signifies danger. This "unken reflex" shows a would-be predator that the newt is deadly poisonous, while at the same time, the newt releases deadly toxins from its skin. | |
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