Three-Toed Amphiuma

Description:

These elongated salamanders may reach more than three feet (.9 m) in length. They are permanently aquatic, although the adults lack gills and use lungs to breathe air. The skin is very smooth and extremely slippery. Both forelimbs and hindlimbs are highly reduced in size and appear nonfunctional. They swim and move with snake-like undulations of their bodies. Larvae hatch with external gills and transform partially, losing the gills but retaining one pair of gill slits. Amphiumas are nocturnal and retreat into burrows during the day. Some animals forage by sticking only their head and upper body from their burrow.

Habitat:

They range from western Alabama to eastern Texas, and north through the Mississippi Valley to the southeastern portion of Missouri. This salamander prefers permanent or semi-permanent aquatic habitats with abundant vegetation. They inhabit lakes, marshes, sluggish streams, swamps, bayous, and drainage ditches.

Notes:

Diet in the Wild They hunt prey items such as earthworms, crayfish, fish, insects, mollusks, snakes, tadpoles, frogs, and smaller amphiumas in the dark, night waters.