One of the 14 salamanders on WAnimals
Amphibians · Caudata · Plethodontidae
Northern Slimy Salamander
Plethodon glutinosus
The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary
The northern slimy salamander is black with white or silvery flecks and owes its name to its defence: from its tail it secretes an extraordinarily adhesive mucus that sticks to hands and to the mouths of predators and is almost impossible to remove. It has no lungs and needs no standing water to breed.
Weight
4 g on average
Size
12 cm – 20 cm
Lifespan
20 years
Diet
Insectivore
Feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates.
Activity
Nocturnal
Active mainly at night.
Social structure
Solitary
Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.
Sighting difficulty
Easy
Fun facts
- fisiologíaIt breathes solely through its skin and the lining of its mouth, having no lungs at all, a trait shared by its whole family.
- Its defensive mucus is one of the most powerful biological adhesives known: it sticks to skin and mucous membranes and will not wash off with water, coming away only when the skin itself flakes off days later. A predator with its mouth glued shut does not try again.
- It needs no water to breed: the female lays her eggs in rotting logs or under stones and guards them until fully formed miniature salamanders hatch, with no tadpole stage at all.
- It spends its life within a few square metres and can live more than twenty years, an extremely slow pace of life for an animal of its size.
Life cycle & biology
- Skeleton type
- Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (amphibian)
- Habitat & environment
- Damp deciduous woodland, wooded slopes and rocky outcrops of the eastern United States
- Sexual maturity
- 2.5 years
- Gestation / incubation
- Direct development in the egg, with no tadpole stage
- Litter / clutch size
- 21
Sources consulted: https://www.iucnredlist.org/ | https://animaldiversity.org/ | https://es.wikipedia.org/
Where to watch it
Parks and dive sites where this species has been documented.
Related species
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Northern Slimy Salamander — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
Shenandoah Salamander
Plethodon shenandoah
Common Nighthawk
Chordeiles minor
American Toad
Anaxyrus americanus
Eastern Newt
Notophthalmus viridescens
Eastern Tiger Salamander
Ambystoma tigrinum
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