Blue-spotted Salamander
By Lizzy
The blue spotted salamander is
a very important species. It is very important that we protect them because
they are endangered. Everyone should experience learning about the blue-spotted
salamander while them sill live.
The Blue-spotted salamander or
the Ambystoma laterale have
many interesting characteristics. They have a shiny black skin color that may
vary to grayish black. When they are young they have yellow flecks that later
develop to blue flecks. While juvenile, they tend to develop blue flecks on
their back. As adults they are covered with light blue flecks around their
sides. Blue-spotted salamanders have a
long tail and four legs. The length of adults ranges between 4 and 5.5 inches.
It is rare people experience the great discovery of a blue-spotted salamander,
but if you ever see one look for these interesting characteristics.
The Blue-spotted salamander
lives in a variety of places and eats a variety of items. Blue-spotted salamanders love the woods, when
they aren’t in woods they are in their seconded favorite place: the vernal
pool. In the woods you can find them taking shelter under fallen trees, in
rotten logs, under leaf litter, and hiding under moss. They come down to the
vernal pool (where they are facultative species) to breed once a year, but most
of their time they spend in the woods. They love to look for earthworms, slugs,
spiders and snails in the moist soil. If the Blue Spotted Salamander is looking
for food than they must watch out for many other larger animals such as large
frogs and fish. When you look for a Blue Spotted Salamander you should look in
all these interesting places
.
The Blue-spotted
salamander’s life cycle is not very different from other mole salamanders. On a
rainy 40 degree night in early spring the blue-spotted salamander travels from
his or her home in the uplands to the vernal pool they were born in. When the
finally get there (it can take them from 10 minutes to 2 days) they breed. After
their “big night” the females stay around the pool for a week or so. Then they
travel back to the uplands until next year leaving egg masses behind them.
Spring turns into summer and slowly the eggs go through a metamorphosis and
change to larva. The blue-spotted salamander larva looks a lot like spotted
salamanders, they are covered in yellow flecks, they have gills and they swim
around the bottom of the pool. When the pool has almost dried up, in late
august they perform an amazing transformation. Their legs they have been
growing all summer suddenly work and the gills finely disappear. They have
become juvenile Blue-spotted
salamanders. They are now covered in blue specks and have four legs and a tail.
I think that the blue-spotted goes through and amazing life cycle and everyone
should experience learning about it!
The blue-spotted
salamander adapts to its in many interesting ways. They transform themselves so
they can breath while larva and as adults. They start out in an egg and grow
gills for living in the vernal pool then lose the gills so they can breath air. That is a very impressive adaptation, to go
through so many changes just to adapt to the environment. They also survive the
winter in an interesting way. Instead of
just dieing in the winter like fairy shrimp the blue-spotted salamander adapts
to the cold weather by hibernating under the soil and leaf litter. The blue-spotted salamander is a very amazing
amphibian.
Bibliography
Wed Sites
Books
Conant, Roger and Collins Joseph, Reptiles
and Amphibians,
Kenney, Leo and Burne Matthew, A Field
Guide to the animals of Vernal Pools Massachusetts: Massachusetts Division of fisheries and
wildlife, May 2000