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Animal profile

Spotted Salamander

Ambystoma maculatum

AmphibiaDeciduous forest with seasonal woodland pondsLeast Concern

Field profile

The spotted salamander is a stout mole salamander, roughly 15 to 25 centimetres long, with two irregular rows of yellow spots on a dark body. Adults spend most of the year in burrows under forest litter and emerge in numbers on the first warm rainy nights of spring to breed in fishless vernal pools.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2023-08-19

Spotted Salamander

Algae grow inside spotted salamander embryos

The jelly of a spotted salamander egg mass turns green because a single-celled alga lives in it. Unusually for a vertebrate, the alga has also been found inside the embryo's own cells, a partnership with no clear parallel among other vertebrates.

Read with evidence →

Spotted Salamander | Daily Animal Facts