Marbled Salamander Interesting Facts

Adult marbled salamanders live in damp woodlands often close to ponds or streams.

Marbled salamander interesting facts.

A long term study conducted at the savannah river ecological laboratory shows that fluctuations in amphibian populations including marbled salamanders can be a natural phenomenon. Petranka 1998 unlike most other mole salamanders this species does not breed in water. The second stage is a larva with gill buds. A noxious substance that deters many would be predators is secreted from the skin of the marbled salamander.

The marbled salamander is typically found in floodplains and low lying fertile areas dominated by hardwood trees. The first stage of the life cycle is the egg they lay their eggs on land. The name salamander comes from the greek word for fire lizard. Adults can grow to about 11 cm 4 in small compared to other members of its genus.

The male marbled salamanders arrive before the female ones at the prospective sites of breeding during breeding season. The male marbled salamanders have white bands and the female s bands are more silver grey. The marbled salamander is a stocky boldly banded salamander. The bands of females tend to be gray while those of males are more white.

Marbled salamanders are very interesting species in terms of behavior. Marbled salamanders are carnivores that hunt by tracking movement and smell. These salamanders move primarily at night to decrease competition with other species and avoid predation risks. A marbled salamander has an interesting life cycle.

They prey on small insects worms slugs and snails. They are extremely unsocial and lonely creatures. Apart from their breeding season they hardly come in contact with others of its species. Marbled salamanders are very defensive about their territory.

This name came about when salamanders came running out of the logs they had been hiding in when those logs were thrown on a fire. Some salamander species can be poisonous and some even have teeth. The marbled salamander ambystoma opacum also called the banded salamander is a member of the mole salamander family. Almost all carnivorous and omnivorous species in the animal kingdom think the marbled salamanders make a delicious snack.

Recently transformed young will wait for a rainy night before migrating away from the breeding site. These salamanders are occasionally can be found around dry hillsides but never far from a moist environment. It gets its name from the white or silver bands that cover the black bodies of adult salamanders. Larvae feed on zooplankton until they grow large enough to hunt.

Like most of the mole salamanders it is secretive spending most of its life under logs or in burrows. Like many salamanders the marbled salamander has poisonous glands on its tail to protect it somewhat from predators. Like many salamanders marbled salamanders have poison glands in their tails to help deter predators. Adult marbled salamanders breed only in dried up pools ponds and ditches and females lay their eggs under the leaves there.