Pyrenean Brook Salamander

• GeneralIt lives in water below 15°C and its larvae can take two years to develop.
• It is a strict Pyrenean endemic: it exists only in the Pyrenees and some pre-Pyrenean ranges of Spain, France and Andorra, and much of its world population is on Spanish soil.
• It can spend its whole life in water, which is uncommon among European newts, most of which alternate aquatic and terrestrial phases.
• The introduction of trout and other fish into the Pyrenean glacial lakes, many of which naturally held no fish at all, has wiped out its larvae from numerous high-mountain lakes.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (amphibian)

Habitat and environment

Cold torrents, tarns and high-mountain lakes of the Pyrenees and the Pre-Pyrenean ranges

Size at birth

An aquatic larva with external gills; in cold water metamorphosis can take more than a year

Sexual maturity

3 years

Gestation / incubation

Larval development in mountain torrents and lakes

Litter / clutch size

40 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calotriton_asper

Best time: From May to September in mountain streams and lakes of the Pyrenees, among the stones of the channel itself.

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.