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[15] [16] The common mudpuppy never leaves its aquatic environment and therefore does not undergo morphogenesis; however, many salamanders do and develop differentiated teeth. [17] Aquatic salamander teeth are used to hinder escape of the prey from the salamander; they do not have a crushing function. [17] This aids the salamander when feeding.
The largest species of lungless salamanders, Bell's false brook salamander, can reach lengths of 36 cm (14 in). [5] Many species have a projectile tongue and hyoid apparatus, which they can fire almost a body length at high speed to capture prey. Measured in individual numbers, they are very successful animals where they occur.
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten extant salamander families are grouped together under the order Urodela from the group Caudata. [2]
Greater siren out of water. Greater sirens are carnivorous and prey upon invertebrates (such as insects, crustaceans, gastropods, bivalves, spiders, molluscs, and crayfish) [11] and aquatic vertebrates (such as small fish) [11] with a possible preference for molluscs (such as snails and freshwater clams), [8] [12] although they have been observed to eat vegetation such as algae.
The family includes some of the largest living amphibians. They are native to China, Japan, and the eastern United States. Giant salamanders constitute one of two living families—the other being the Asiatic salamanders belonging to the family Hynobiidae—within the Cryptobranchoidea, one of two main divisions of living salamanders.
The red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus) is a small, hardy woodland salamander species in the family Plethodontidae.It is also known as the redback salamander, [3] eastern red-backed salamander, [3] or the northern red-backed salamander to distinguish it from the southern red-backed salamander (Plethodon serratus).
The torrent salamanders or Cascade salamanders are a family of salamanders (Rhyacotritonidae) with only one genus, Rhyacotriton. The torrent salamanders have highly reduced lungs and are endemic to the United States in the Pacific Northwest (including northwestern California).
They are moderately robust and have two pairs of short but well-developed limbs and a large, laterally compressed tail. Lungs are present but small. Typical adult size is 20–25 cm (8–10 in) in total length, but Necturus maculosus is larger and may reach 40 cm (16 in). [4] N. maculosus is brown to gray on its back with bluish black spots ...