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Adult, Mendocino County |
Adult, Humboldt County |
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Adult, Del Norte County, showing white defensive secretions on the tail and on the parotid gland behind the eye. |
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Adult, King County, Washington |
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Recently-transformed juvenile. |
Adult male during the breeding season, showing a swollen vent. |
Large aquatic notene, 5,700 ft., Pierce county, Washington |
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| Neotenic or paedomorphic adult, with reduced gills, 5,700 ft., Pierce county, Washington. Found on land at the edge of a lake, this salamander is transforming from an aquatic to a terrestrial existence. |
Egg mass attached to a stick that was submerged in a small pond. |
Larva in water.
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Habitat |
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Habitat, Mendocino County |
Redwood forest habitat, Humboldt County |
Habitat, breeding pond, Del Norte County |
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Habitat, Humboldt County |
Habitat, Humboldt County |
Breeding pond, Pacific
County, Washington |
More pictures of eggs, larvae, and breeding habitat - Page 2.
More pictures of this salamander and its natural habitat are available on our Northwest Herps page.
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Description |
| Size |
| Adults are 3 - 5 1/5 inches long (7.6 - 13.2 cm) from snout to vent, and up to 9 3/4 inches (22 cm) total length. Gilled adults grow up to 10.2 inches in length (26 cm). |
| Appearance |
| A large, heavy, stout bodied lunged salamander with a short broad rounded head, blunt snout, small protuberant eyes, moist smooth skin. Occurs as both gilled adults and transformed adults with lungs. Usually 11 costal grooves, no nasolabial grooves, tail flattened from side to side. Dark brown, gray, or black. Populations far north of California may have cream or yellow flecks on dorsum. Conspicuous oval paratoid glands behind the eyes and on the tail ridge. |
| Behavior |
| Transformed adults are most likely to be seen on rainy nights during migrations over land to and from breeding sites, or when breeding in ponds, lakes, and streams. At other times of the year they stay in rotten logs or moist places underground such as animal burrows. They are often found under surface objects near breeding pools or streams in the breeding season, and under driftwood on streambacks after storm waters recede. Adults and larvae are mildly poisonous which may explain their survival in lakes and streams with populations of introduced fishes and bullfrogs. When molested, they may emit a ticking sound and assume a defensive posture, with the head down and the tail elevated while secreting a sticky white poison from parotid glands on the head, back, and tail. Sometimes they will butt their head and lash their tail to smear the poison on an attacker. This poison can kill or sicken small animals and causes skin irritation in some people. |
| Diet |
| Eats small invertebrates. |
| Reproduction |
| Adults migrate to breeding waters and breed between January and April (and as late as August in high elevations in Washington.) Egg masses roughly the size of a small grapefruit are laid in wetlands adjacent to lakes, ponds, and slow-moving streams. Attached to underwater shrub branches, grass, or aquatic plants, the eggs hatch in 6 - 8 weeks. Aquatic larvae usually transform after one year at around 3.5 inches (85 cm.). Larvae are pond-adapted, brown or olive green with dark pigment along the base of the dorsal fin, long feathery gills. |
| Range |
Occurs from the central Sonoma County coast, north along the coast and into the north coast ranges and then north through the Cascades into British Columbia and north to Chichagof, Alaska.
(Mark Gary, a contributor to this web site, found this salamander in central Sonoma county in 2005 near the Kruse Rhododendron Preserve. Previously, it was only recorded as far south as the mouth of the Gualala River.) |
| Habitat |
| Found in wet habitats along the Pacific coast, including grasslands, woodlands, and forests from sea level to near 5,700 ft. in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
| Some experts recognize two subspecies - Ambystoma gracile gracile in the south, and A. g. decorticatum in the north. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Ambystomatidae |
Mole Salamanders |
| Genus |
Ambystoma |
Mole Salamanders |
Species
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gracile |
Northwestern Salamander |
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Original Description |
Baird, 1859 - Pacific R. R. Report, Vol. 10, Williamson's Route, Pt. 4, No. 4, p. 13, pl. 44, fig. 2
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Ambystoma: anabystoma - to cram into the mouth. Possibly derived from Amblystoma: Greek - blunt mouth.
gracile: Latin - slender, delicate
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
None
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Related or Similar California Salamanders |
Coastal Giant Salamander
Black Salamander
California Tiger Salamander
Southern Long-toed Salamander
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
AmphibiaWeb
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Amphibians of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009.
Bishop, Sherman C. Handbook of Salamanders. Cornell University Press, 1943.
Lannoo, Michael (Editor). Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species. University of California Press, June 2005.
Petranka, James W. Salamanders of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution, 1998.
Corkran, Charlotte & Chris Thoms. Amphibians of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Lone Pine Publishing, 1996.
Jones, Lawrence L. C. , William P. Leonard, Deanna H. Olson, editors. Amphibians of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle Audubon Society, 2005.
Leonard et. al. Amphibians of Washington and Oregon. Seattle Audubon Society, 1993.
Nussbaum, R. A., E. D. Brodie Jr., and R. M. Storm. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Pacific Northwest. Moscow, Idaho: University Press of Idaho, 1983.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
This salamander is not included on the Special Animals List, meaning there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California according to the California Department of Fish and Game.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
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| USDA Forest Service |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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