Blue-spotted Salamander

Fascinating facts about the Blue-spotted Salamander

• Blue-spotted salamanders measure just 10-14 cm long, yet their tails stretch to 40 % of that length, giving them a surprisingly long, paddle-like rear. Males are a touch smaller than females, and each animal sports four front toes, five hind toes, and 12-14 costal grooves along the sides.
• These salamanders cling to fleeting vernal pools that hold water until mid-summer, Because they are philopatric, individuals return year after year to the same temporary water bodies, relying on surrounding underbrush, leaf litter, rocks and logs for daytime shelter.
• A single female can lay up to 500 eggs in a season, though most clutches average about a dozen eggs attached to twigs or rocks at pond edges. Both sexes reach sexual maturity at two years old, and after fertilization the eggs need roughly one month to hatch. Larvae sprout fully formed eyes, mouths and external gills, grow front limbs in two weeks and hind limbs in three weeks, and stay aquatic until they metamorphose into terrestrial adults by late summer.
• Blue-spotted salamanders share their range with ancient all-female (unisexual) salamander lineages that need a male's sperm merely to trigger egg development, a process called kleptogenesis. In these zones, male blue-spotted salamanders provide the sperm that sparks development, but the sperm's DNA is usually discarded, allowing the eggs to develop asexually (gynogenesis). Pure-diploid blue-spotted salamanders are among the rarest amphibians in the northeastern United States.
• When threatened, the salamander's blue spots break up its outline, making it harder for predators to focus on its shape. Its tail, covered in granular glands, can release a milky, noxious liquid. By raising its tail over its body, the salamander ensures the predator contacts the toxic secretion first, causing the predator to drop it. This chemical shield, combined with camouflage, gives the species a defense.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

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