Explore interesting information about the 13 salamanders found in Lake County!
By Nicholas Gaye, Interpretive Naturalist
There are not many groups of animals in Northeast Ohio that are more secretive than salamanders. Take for example the family known as ambystoma, or mole salamanders. These cold-blooded critters spend most of their time underground, appropriating the burrows of chipmunks and star-nosed moles as they search for invertebrates to quench their appetites. Mole salamanders are so dedicated to their subterranean lifestyle that they usually only emerge from the ground once a year! During the spring, mole salamanders like the Jefferson, small-mouthed and spotted make their migrations. Occurring on mild and rainy spring nights, these salamanders envelop park trails as they trek back to the very nurseries they were born in.
These nurseries are known as vernal pools, and they are essential to the life cycle of salamanders. Vernal pools are ephemeral, or temporary, bodies of water. They fill up after the spring thaw melts the snow, and rain waters fill up these once barren basins with runoff. These pools are disconnected from other sources of water like streams or lakes. Since vernal pools aren’t connected to other sources of water, this means they are also free of any fish populations, making one less potential predator to worry about eating their eggs.
Vernal pool with egg clutches
External gills of salamander larvae
Salamanders may be secretive, but their importance in our ecosystems cannot be understated. As an indicator species, salamanders alert us to the health of ecosystems. Where there is a healthy ecosystem, an abundance of these cold-blooded critters thrives. But when that same habitat is in poor health, salamander populations crash.
Being amphibians, most salamanders split their time between land and water. Because of this, they diffuse air through their semi-permeable skin, allowing oxygen to be absorbed directly into their bloodstream without the need of lungs in some species. Unfortunately, this also makes them particularly sensitive to their environments. Harmful chemicals from pollution or runoff are also diffused through their skin and cause serious health issues and even death. It only takes small amounts of runoff and pollution to send this fragile family of amphibians into a freefall!
Salamanders are among the most threatened group of animals on the planet, with more than 2,000 amphibian species considered globally threatened. Salamander populations have declined for a number of reasons: habitat loss and fragmentation, pollution and agricultural runoff, as well as other human pressures. Their precipitous decline in population is a reflection of this, but fear not because there is a lot you can do to help local salamanders. Explore below and learn how to VEER onto the path of salamander sustainability!
Explore interesting information about the 13 salamanders found in Lake County!
Mole salamanders get their name because of their subterranean lifestyle. Spending most of their time in the appropriated burrows of small mammals, these salamanders only emerge to the surface once every year. With the onset of warm and rainy nights in the spring and fall, these salamanders migrate across forests and floodplains back to their ancestral nurseries, the very vernal pools they were born in. They have well-developed lungs and are incredibly large for salamanders. Northeast Ohio is home to the four species of mole salamander described below as well as a unique triploid female hybridization.
Spotted salamanders are among the largest salamanders in Northeast Ohio. They are six to 12 inches long, with females typically larger than their male counterparts. These mole salamanders make their famous migration to its vernal pools in spring. They can be found in both upland and lowland forest vernal pools and are a common sight at most. They are usually the second to arrive to vernal pools after Jefferson and small-mouthed salamanders. Their bright yellow spots are indicative of their name, and like other mole salamanders can be easily distinguished as male or female during their breeding season based on the swelling of their cloacal slit.
Another spring migrator, the Jefferson salamander is often the first species to migrate back to its ancestral vernal pools. Jeffersons prefer upland deciduous forests because of their well-drained sandy soils. Males arrive back to the vernal pools days ahead in preparation for females, laying spermatophores for female counterparts to fertilize their eggs. They are an innocuous but large mole salamander, ranging from four to eight in length. Their bodies are slate gray to brown in color with lighter bellies. Jefferson salamanders are common throughout the parks with upland vernal pools like Hogback Ridge Park.
The final spring migrator, the small-mouthed salamander often frequents vernal pools found in lowland forests. These forests are poorly drained and are often found within the floodplains of Lake Metroparks. Small-mouthed salamanders are called such for their narrow mouths and stout heads. They are dark gray brown on their backs with light gray mottling along their sides and on their underbellies. Ranging in size from four to seven inches, they are on the smaller side for mole salamanders. Small-mouthed salamanders can form the complex of unisexual triploid hybrid species. These species are entirely female in population and only pass on the genetic information of females from generation to generation.
Marbled salamanders migrate in fall. When hurricane rains push north from the Gulf of Mexico, the warm rains bring marbled salamanders out of their burrows and back to their vernal pools. Marbled salamanders are a brilliant white with black marbling throughout their backs, with slate gray underbellies. They are the smallest of the mole salamanders in our area, only growing to a maximum of four inches in length. The upper lot at Indian Point Park is a great place to see these salamanders in the fall.
Lungless salamanders diffuse oxygen through their moist skin and the lining of their mouths. Because of this, they should never be held in human hands unless they are moist, and never for more than a few seconds at a time. Their semi-permeable skin allows more than just oxygen to diffuse through their porous membranes. Harmful chemicals and pesticides can cause massive crashes in their populations and result in serious disease and even death of individuals. This makes lungless salamanders an excellent indicator species. If you notice an abundance of population and biodiversity, it generally means the habitat is in good health. If you don’t, this means that some sort of external pressure could be causing a disturbance.
One of the most striking and vibrant salamanders in Northeast Ohio, the Northern red salamander can be found in and around streams of good water quality. Stoney Brook that runs through Penitentiary Glen Reservation’s gorge is a hotspot for this species of salamander. Bright red in color with small black dots flecking their backs, these lungless salamanders must keep their skin moist to survive. They are large for the family of lungless salamanders, ranging from four to seven inches in length. They feed on invertebrate like insect larvae and worms and may even be observed eating smaller salamanders. Larvae are laid in the fall and take nearly three years to go through adult metamorphosis.
Slimy salamanders are named for the slimy excretions that constantly ooze out of their pores. These sticky secretions are highly adhesive and are used as a deterrent for predators. When threatened, these salamanders thrash their tails to expose their glands and excrete the sticky substance to inhibit and deter the predator’s attack. Females guard their egg masses for three months until terrestrial juveniles emerge. The salamanders reach maturity in two to three years. They are long and slender, reaching lengths of five to eight inches. They are shiny black in color, with light gray to white flecks on their backs.
Northern dusky salamanders can be easily distinguished by the white lines that run from the corner of their eyes to the corner of their mouths. They are some of the most common salamanders in Northeast Ohio but also among the most elusive and difficult to catch. They are incredibly quick and jump and bound out of sticky situations, scurrying underneath the nearest log or rock for refuge. These salamanders cannot move their lower jaws and must move their entire heads to open their mouths. They can be found at any park with running streams and nearby cover for them to hide under.
These salamanders can be distinguished from their cousins the Northern dusky salamanders by their rounded tails. Their backs also have tan to light brown stripes with “v” shaped flecking that runs adjacent to the stripes. They are similar in size and habitat to Northern dusky salamanders and are somewhat less common, but equally as elusive.
The most common stream salamander in Northeast Ohio, the Northern two-lined can be found in most brooks and streams in the parks. They prefer small rocky woodland streams and are often found on the edges of the water underneath rocks and logs. They are easily identified by the two lines that run down the length of their backs. They are small and incredibly fast, easily squirming underneath the smallest of cervices as they avoid capture. They are slender and only reach about four inches in length.
The only polymorphic species of salamander in Northeast Ohio, the Eastern red-backed salamander comes in different color morphs. They can have stripes down the length of their backs that range in color from slate gray to brown to bright red. Perhaps the most abundant salamanders in the world, they are entirely land dwelling and are most commonly found underneath logs and rocks in damp forest settings.
Four-toed salamanders can easily be confused with the Eastern red-backed. Similar in size and appearance, the four-toed can be easily distinguished by its namesake. While all salamanders possess four toes in their front limbs, only four-toed salamander have four toes on their hind limbs as well. They can also be distinguished by their brilliant white underbellies with small black spots. This species is a fan of stagnant water sources like ponds, swamps and bogs. They are often found hidden adjacent to these habitats beneath moss, logs and the decaying bark of trees. Sometimes large hibernacula can be found in rotting logs where these salamanders gather to survive the extreme winter cold.
Also known as true salamanders, the family of Salamandridae can be distinguished from other salamanders based on their lack of costal grooves, or folds, that can be seen in all other species. Their skin is also much more granular because of the poison glands that this family possesses. The toxin in their skin is often displayed through aposematic camouflage, or a brightly colored conspicuous appearance that serves as a warning to predators.
Red-spotted newts are unusual in that they complete their life cycles in reverse. While most salamanders remain in vernal pools until they have reached their adult stage and split their time as land dwellers and pond swimmers, red-spotted newts do the opposite. They spend their immature stage as red efts, meandering around forest floors and over time lose their slimy skin in place of much rougher, drier, lizard-like skin. Their wedge-shaped tails turn into more cylindrical, reptile-like tails as well. For two to three years, they wander the moist forest floors after fresh rains and can be spotted because of their bright red coloration. A warning to predators, this coloration is a display of aposematism, or a vibrant warning that it is toxic to potential predators. After three years in the red eft stage, they regain their salamander-like appearance and return to vernal pools to mate and spend the remainder of their lives.
Also known as water dogs or mudpuppies, Proteidae is a family of fully aquatic salamanders. Individuals in this family spend the entirety of their lives in the water. They can be identified from amphibious salamanders by their evident external gills, resembling their close cousins the axolotl. Spending their lives in large rivers and Lake Erie, they are nocturnal in lifestyle, only emerging to snack on invertebrates under the veil of night.
Mudpuppies are true to their name, dwelling deep under the muddy substrate of large rivers and lakes of Ohio. Although they are a common salamander, they are seldom seen because of their nocturnal lifestyle. Their broad flattened head allows them to easily search underneath rocks for their preferred invertebrate prey, such as crayfish and the larvae of insects. They are different from the other salamanders in Lake County as these amphibians have ditched their amphibious lifestyle and have elected to spend their entire lives in the water. They are fully aquatic salamanders and never lose their external gills, giving them a resemblance to their close cousin, the axolotl. They are the largest salamanders in Lake County and can reach more than 12 inches in length!