Basic Facts

Size:  12.5-19 cm

Description: The bodies of adults are salmon coloured and are mottled with darker markings. Their bellies are flesh-coloured with tiny dark flecks. Older and larger specimens become darker. A white line runs from the eye to nostril and is bordered below by a black or dark brown line.

Distribution: The range of this species is limited to south of the Great lakes, with a few populations found in Ontario and Quebec.

Feeding

larva: carnivorous
adult: carnivorous
food: This species eats other salamanders. Its diet also includes earthworms, slugs, snails and beetle larvae.

Habitat

egg: aquatic
larva: aquatic
adult: terrestrial



Spring salamander
Gyrinophilus porphyriticus

Adult
image
David Green


Life history

Breeding season: Breeding occurs in the spring and fall.

Egg habitat: Eggs are laid singly.

Clutch size: Females deposit 44 - 132 eggs.

Description: Larvae may spend up to four years in streams.

Adult habitat: This salamander can be found in mountain springs, near the edge of mountain brooks and in seepage and wet forest areas. It may occupy natural or excavated cavities beneath logs or stones.

Conservation

This species has been designated as vulnerable by COSEWIC. Threats include organic pollution in streams due to deforestation and agriculture. Habitat modification and sedimentation in streams because of stream bed and shore bank alternation during road construction and canalization is also a problem. The introduction of predatory fish such as trout can also be detrimental to eggs and larvae. The pumping of spring water can modify breeding sites from permanent bodies of water to temporary. This salamander may be more sensitive to changes in dissolved oxygen levels and so forestry practices resulting in stream warming or siltation could have adverse affects.