Yellow-spotted Salamander

Ambystoma maculatum (Shaw)

Camouflage is not a talent of this plump salamander. Its head, body and tail are dark grey to blue-black, with lighter blue-grey on the sides and belly. But along its back and tail are two uneven rows of very bright yellow spots. You'll know one when you see one!

Size range of salamanders

Close-up of head

At 10 to 20 cm long, these are our biggest salamanders. They are common all over, hiding by day in the moist forest darkness under logs and rocks, or in other animals' tunnels. On damp nights Yellow-spots move about on the forest floor searching for food. Like all Nova Scotian Salamanders they hibernate during the winter. You might find one holed up in a damp cellar or tucked into a woodpile.

Egg mass

Salamander crossing the road at night

March 26 is their earliest noted spring appearance here, but you will see them during April and May courting and mating in ponds at night. The male does an elaborate courtship dance to attract the female. Eggs are laid in water, in fist-sized masses of jelly attached to pond plants. Each female can lay up to several hundred eggs. Some larvae mature after one summer in the pond, but others overwinter in the mud. These become adults during their second summer.

Portrait of a Yellow-spotted Salamander