The Mole Salamanders (Ambystomatidae)______________________________________________
Spotted Salamander(Ambystoma maculatum)
Marbled Salamander(Ambystoma opacum)
With their bright yellow spots on a deep blue/gray background, the Spotted Salamander is hard to confuse with other mole salamanders. The mole salamanders are so named because most of their life is spent beneath the leaf litter and underground in burrows. Come late winter/ early spring the Spotted Sallies emerge from the ground to converge in vernal pools. Here they mate, spend a few days in the water, and leave for the woods once again.
Clear form of Spotted Salamander egg mass
These salamanders can live for up to 10 years, if they don't get run over during their migration. They can secrete a sticky, milky substance from their skin to deter predation by mammals.
After the first few warm rainy nights of late March - early April, walk along the edges of a vernal pool and you may find spermatophores and egg masses. The latter are gelatenous structures that can be transparant or milky white. In a couple weeks, the salamander larvae will wriggle out and feed upon a variety of tiny creatures in the pond.
Above are spermatophores deposited on the bottom of a vernal pool by a male maculatum. These packets of fertilizing cells are picked up by a female through her cloaca (the opening to her reproductive organs)
Click for call
Female - note mottled gray/white on head.
If you have a vernal pool in your area (and most towns do!), go out on that special night to see their incredible migration. Don't be afraid to help them across to the pond if there is danger of car traffic.
Salamander Xing sign designed by Chuck Landry
Autumn is the time for Marbled Salamanders to shine. While most amphibians breed in the spring and summer months, these salamanders wait until later in the season.
The male is a deeply marbled black and white, hence it's name, while the female, who is also black and white, has a much less patterned body.
While they are not as common as the Spotted Salamander, they can be found with some looking, but most often by chance while gardening or lifting rocks and logs.
Female - note mottled gray/white on head.
After mating, the Marbled females lay their eggs and wait in dried out vernal pools. The mother will wrap her body around the small mass to hold in the moisture and protect them from small predators. The autumn rains come and fill the empty pools. Once the water rises, the larvae hatch. They have the advantage of being one of the few predators in the winter pools and can be found swimming beneath the ice.
I found the above opacum larva along with many others in a vernal pool on February 27, 2004. The top of the pool was still covered with ice. The tail seems a bit worse for the wear. Note the front legs - the rear legs haven't appeared yet.
