San Gabriel Slender Salamander

Fascinating facts about the San Gabriel Slender Salamander

• A tiny 3-to-5 cm salamander can slip through leaf litter like a living needle, its worm-like body barely longer than a paperclip. Its size lets it hide from predators in the rocky crevices of the San Gabriel Mountains.
• When you look up, the salamander’s back flashes black dotted with white, copper, and orange blotches, like a miniature camouflage paint-splatter. The belly stays pure black, and some individuals even sport red spots on their tail.
• Its tail never exceeds 1.5 times its body length, keeping the whole animal under 7.5 cm long.
• Scientists have only found this salamander in the San Gabriel Canyon system, above 850 m elevation.
• Although it looks similar to its cousins B. pacificus and B. nigriventis, the San Gabriel slender salamander is a distinct lineage confined to Los Angeles County.

At a glance

About the San Gabriel Slender Salamander

The San Gabriel slender salamander (Batrachoseps gabrieli) is a diminutive amphibian measuring 3 to 5 cm in length, with a worm-like body, a relatively large head, robust limbs, and an elongate cylindrical tail that never exceeds one and a half times its body length. Its dorsal surface is black with irregular blotches of white, coppery, and orange, while the ventral side is an immaculate black; occasional red spots may appear on the tail. It closely resembles its relatives B. pacificus and B. nigriventis. Endemic to the San Gabriel Canyon system, it lives above 850 m in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County.

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