During the first warm wet days of spring amphibians called spotted salamanders begin to mate. Spotted salamanders are very cool amphibians as they are quite large unlike some of the other salamanders that you commonly see these range between 4-9 inches. There a purplish color with bright yellow spots on there back hence the name. These salamanders have another very unique adaptation they have developed a symbiotic relationship with algae actually living inside the embryos of the eggs. This is a recent discovery and this makes the spotted salamander the only known vertebrate to have an endosymbiont (a co-evolution with algae where the algae makes food for the animal).
Spotted salamanders are found through out the Northern and Midwestern states reaching up into Canada. They usually live in burrows and under logs and foliage so it is quite hard to spot them while walking around. But they are quite abundant.
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| Spotted salamander - Ambystoma maculatum |
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| A picture of the Salamander in the pond with a newt in the background. |
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