Basic Facts

Size:  11.2-19.7 cm

Description: Adult colouration is black on top, pale grey beneath with a row of bright yellow or orange spots from snout to tail. The spots form an irregular row along each side of the back. Many individuals also have yellowish-white to bluish-white flecks on the sides. There are between 12 to 14 costal grooves.

Distribution: This species is found throughout eastern Canada from Prince Edward Island to Ontario.

Feeding

larva: carnivorous
adult: carnivorous
food: Larvae feed on aquatic invertebrates and are sometimes cannibalistic. Adults eat a variety of invertebrates including spiders, snails, slugs, earthworms and beetles.

Habitat

egg: aquatic
larva: aquatic
adult: terrestrial



Spotted salamander
Ambystoma maculatum

Adult
image
David Green		 Habitat
 image
John Mitchell


Life history

Breeding season: This salamander breeds early in the spring with the stimulus of warm rains. Individuals migrate to and from breeding sites. During breeding season several males will court a single female at the same time. Males nudge the female with their noses then swim ahead of her and release a spermatophore. The female will then move forward and pick up one or more spermatophores in her cloaca where internal fertilization occurs.

Egg habitat: Appropriate egg habitat includes woodland ponds, vegetated coves of lakes and quiet vegetated portions of streams. Eggs are laid in large masses or in a number of small clumps. The eggs may be fixed to vegetation or rest on the bottom of the pond.

Clutch size: 81 - 293 eggs are laid.

Description: There is some evidence that some populations of this species may have larvae that overwinter. However, the majority have larvae that transform within the same season.

Adult habitat: Terrestrial juveniles and adults are found beneath stones or boards in moist habitats or during wet weather. Typical habitat is coniferous, deciduous and mixed woodlands adjacent to aquatic breeding sites.

Conservation

If roads are constructed between wooded uplands and lowland breeding sites mass mortality of migrants may occur during the spring or on moist or rainy nights when the salamanders move about on the surface. This species requires a continued presence of undisturbed woodlands. Any activity that opens the forest canopy (for example, selective logging) can lower humidity and create conditions unsuitable for survival.