Marbled Salamander Larvae

It gets its name from the white or silver bands that cover the black bodies of adult salamanders.

Marbled salamander larvae.

The larger larvae will also eat caterpillars and other. The marbled salamander is typically found in floodplains and low lying fertile areas dominated by hardwood trees. These pools that dry up each summer and are refilled each winter are known as vernal pools. Salamanders like all amphibians require water for reproduction.

They eat zooplankton mainly copepods and cladocerans when they first hatch but add other prey to their diet as they grow including larger crustaceans isopods fairy shrimp aquatic insects snails oligochaete worms and the. A marbled salamander larva. Marbled salamanders only eat live prey. Recently metamorphosed individuals are brown or gray with light speckles.

All marbled salamanders have black undersides. As they grow larger they will eat tadpoles insects and other salamander larvae. The female stays with her developing eggs until rain fills the wetland and triggers. Life cycle the marbled salamander breeds from september to october in the northern part of its range and from october to december in the southern part of its range.

However unlike most salamanders which lay their eggs in the winter or spring marbled salamanders lay their eggs in dried up pools in the fall. The marbled salamander ambystoma opacum also called the banded salamander is a member of the mole salamander family. Marbled salamanders range from the. Adults take terrestrial invertebrates such as worms insects centipedes and mollusks snails slugs.

Marbled salamanders emerge from their underground homes in early fall to migrate to their breeding grounds. They have a long dorsal fin from the tail to just behind the front arms. The larger larval marbled salamanders feed on spotted salamander larvae and wood frog tadpoles as well as zooplankton. The larvae are dark brown or black with bushy gills and light spots the form a line on each side.

Females will lay about 30 100 eggs in a depression on land usually beneath a log or leaf litter. A marbled salamander larva. A female marbled salamander guarding her clutch of eggs within a dry portion of a mendon swamp. Marbled salamanders like this pregnant female found at an attleboro tennis court often must cross through yards while migrating to their breeding sites during late summer nights.

Larvae take small aquatic animals zooplankton but larger individuals will take eggs and larvae of other amphibians as well. The larvae of the marbled salamander are also quite voracious predators eating zooplankton upon hatching but adding more prey as they grow including aquatic insects isopods fairy shrimp snails worms and the larvae of other amphibians. This is opposite from other mole salamanders that breed during early spring.