SPOTTED SALAMANDERS.
Natives of Central Europe.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
SPOTTED SALAMANDER.
The skin of the salamander exudes a poisonous secretion, and its bright colours advertise its non-edible properties to carnivorous birds and mammals.
Salamanders repair to the water to breed, after the manner of newts, but the young are usually brought forth alive, though occasionally eggs are deposited, from which the young tadpoles almost immediately emerge. The number usually produced at a birth ranges from sixteen to thirty, but instances are recorded where there have been as many as fifty.
The colossus of the tailed Amphibian race is the Giant Salamander of China and Japan, which may attain to a length of from 3 to 3½ feet. The body, like that of the ordinary salamanders, is broad and depressed; but the eyes are very small, and have no eyelids; and the tail, which is relatively short, is compressed, and has a fin both above and beneath. This salamander lives entirely in the water, and is adapted for such an aquatic life by the possession of both lungs and gills. In its native habitat it is most usually found in small, clear mountain-streams, at elevations of from 700 to 5,000 feet above the sea-level, such streams being often not more than a foot in width, and more or less overgrown with grasses; in these the adults are usually found curled round the larger stones, while the smaller ones occupy holes and crevices among them.
Photo by James B. Corr, Esq.] [Dundee.