Kiley BriggsViews:
Growing up in the lower Lake Champlain Valley, finding small stream salamanders wasn’t easy. Farm fields lining the streams led to warmer waters with high sediment loads, which aren’t ideal for these creatures. Flipping rocks along the edges of streams, I’d occasionally find Northern Two-lined and Northern Dusky Salamanders, but those were rare events. It wasn’t until high school that I encountered Vermont’s largest stream salamander, the Northern Spring Salamander. And what a stunner my first Spring Salamander turned out to be. After gently lifting a large flat rock bordering a mountain stream, I uncovered a 7-inch-long bright orange salamander that nearly knocked my socks off.
Spring Salamanders are pretty easy to identify as adults, and hard to miss if you see one. They top off around 8 inches in length, making them the largest lungless salamanders in the Northeast (a group that also includes Two-lined and Dusky Salamanders). As adults, their bright orange color may remind you of a salmon fillet. They also have a light line from their nostrils to their eyes, which helps distinguish them from similar Mud and Red Salamanders in southern parts of their range. Their blade-like tail and broad flat snout also set them apart from similar species. The larvae are drabber in coloration – more of an unnoticeable gray or tan, apart from the red external gills on the back of their heads. While the young are easy to miss during a salamander search, the adults are not, although they can be difficult to catch.
Spring Salamanders are much more specialized in their habitat requirements than other New England stream salamanders. Their larger size may lead to inefficiencies in getting enough oxygen from warmer waters, which may explain why they are limited to well-oxygenated mountain streams. Their large size also means they require larger flat rocks to hide under, which are scarce in places where underlying bedrock doesn’t produce flat stones. A few years ago, while playing around in mapping software, I found I could closely predict the Northern Spring Salamander’s range in Vermont by highlighting towns with changes in elevation over 1400 feet and then excluding towns with bedrock that doesn’t produce flat stones.
Like most amphibians, Spring Salamanders are gape-limited predators. That means they eat almost anything that moves and will fit in their mouth. That includes invertebrates, small fish, and smaller salamanders. In New England, Spring Salamanders share their habitat with both Two-lined and Dusky Salamanders, and both are on the menu. At half the Spring Salamander’s length, I wonder if Two-lined Salamanders perceive Spring Salamanders in much the same way a mink perceives a bobcat. Both are formidable predators, but the bigger one absolutely eats the smaller one.
In turn, Spring Salamanders are also prey to other animals. The streams they live in are often inhabited by trout, which eat Spring Salamanders and their young. Snakes also prey on Spring Salamanders, as do American Bullfrogs and many other predators. One of the most frequent predators of Spring Salamanders is, however, larger Spring Salamanders. Cannibalism is common enough among Spring Salamanders that larvae and small adults are more active during the daytime when nocturnal adults are not on the prowl.
Historic land use was not kind to Spring Salamanders, but there is some good news too. Deforestation through the 19th and 20th centuries led to warmer waters with more sediments, making it harder for them to survive and nest. In the past century, a gradual trend toward reforestation has led to more shade over mountain streams and cleaner water, allowing Spring Salamanders to rebound a bit. More recently, however, global increases in temperatures and a return do deforestation threaten the future of Spring Salamanders. Restoring forested lands and protecting them from future development are key to the survival of Spring Salamanders, but protecting forests is about more than Spring Salamanders. Restoring and protecting forests also leads to cleaner water, improved recreational opportunities, better fisheries, and an overall environment with greater biodiversity and resilience to future disturbances.
Spring Salamanders can also serve as a sort of ambassador for forest conservation. I’ve spoken to foresters who work with landowners and learned firsthand what the value of showing a Spring Salamander to a landowner can be. People can read all about Spring Salamanders, as you are doing now, but it doesn’t click for most people until they see one with their own eyes. This is true even among conservationists. I am reminded of the time last spring when two of my field technicians saw their first Spring Salamanders. Both admitted later that while they were excited at the idea of seeing Spring Salamanders, the salamanders were way cooler than they expected.
It is worth pointing out, however, that looking for Spring Salamanders can also damage their habitat, or even kill them if not done very carefully. Turning over large flat rocks along the edge of a stream is the best way to find them, but there is a risk you will crush salamanders occasionally. And, once a rock is put back down, is its new position still suitable for housing the salamanders? Try as we might to return stones to exactly the position we found them, we aren’t always successful. So, while there is great value in showing people Spring Salamanders in the wild, I caution people not to disturb the same spot very often and to be careful. Turn stones over slowly and try as hard as you can to gently return those stones to their original positions.
If you catch a Spring Salamander, make sure to keep it wet. Ideally, it should be placed in a small container with some water from its stream and viewed only for a few minutes before being returned to where it was found. Handling them with bare hands can damage their protective slime coat. Chemicals such as bug spray and sunscreen can be very harmful to them, so try to keep that stuff off your hands before a salamander search. Follow these instructions, and you can minimize the risk of searching for and viewing this incredible species. For the most part, though, it’s best just to leave these salamanders alone and feel good knowing they are out there, just out of sight beneath a rock and prowling the streams at night.
