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on what this is?

I found it in a stream by me in Boone, North Carolina. It is not a god photo, but my camera does not work well at night. It looks like a very light phase of a Red Salamander, but more brown. Could it be a neotenic Dusky then?

Heh, lots of possibilities up there. Duskies and neoteny don't go together; he doesn't really have the dusky look in any case. I'm going to lay it down that he's in the old tribe Hemidactyliini (I think it's Speleomantini now, but I could be wrong). That would make him a Eurycea, Pseudotriton, or Gyrinophilus. The color is typical of a larval red (they don't start to brighten up until they're fairly big) or spring, but he seems a little slim, more like a Eurycea.

I wouldn't want to hazard a guess beyond that without a clearer photo. How big was he? What habitat?

It was in a small fast flowing stream which I have frequented for the past two years. There's tons of hardwoods around and the elevation is about 3,800 feet. It was a good four inches in length, and I am leaning towards a Spring Salamander because it did have one of those thin red lines on its side. Hopefully when I go back up soon, I can find it again.

Looks just like the Gyrinophilus larvae in my aquarium.

RUSS