Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click here for Dragon Serpents
Click here for Dragon Serpents

Spotted salamander larvae???

kevinopp May 04, 2011 05:28 PM

i live in the Catskills in NY, and have recently done some night herping as the amphibian season is kicking into gear.

in a long watery ditch that we have, i found many, many eggs that i ID'd as wood frogs and spotted salamander eggs. the sally eggs were classic; baseball size foggy jelly with deep green eggs inside and the larva. i brought them home and hatched them in an aquarium. (also caught an adult spotted that night). they were born with gills, but they "resorbed" a few days later, and now, one week into their hatching, there are no gills to be seen at all.

this is my first time palying with spotted larva, but i thought they should have gills the entire time. was my ID mistaken, or will the gills become more prominent? not sure how to post a photo here, but i can take good macro shots if that would help.

Replies (1)

cg May 16, 2011 09:26 AM

Spotted salamander larvae have prominent gills. Many tadpoles start out gilled, but then they develope a flap over the gills to hide them. Sounds like you have tadpoles instead of A. maculatum.

Site Tools