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May 29, 2008

these newts are made for walkin’

Filed Under nature 

REMEMBER IN APRIL, when I inadvertently fished an Eastern Spotted Salamander out of one garden pool while cleaning it? He/she hasn’t been heard from since, but a smaller cousin, the Red-Spotted Newt, is here. My Pal Sal. Who knew that this red phase is actually just one stage of his little but longish life?

The Red-Spotted Newt starts his life in the water, hatched from one of 300-400 eggs his mother lays, becoming a tadpole-like larvae, gills and all. After several months he sheds them and becomes terrestrial, and is called an eft (the term for the red juvenile stage). This stage lasts a couple of years or up to seven, according to some references, before the next metamorphosis in the salamander’s life occurs and he once again changes colors…and habitats…returning to the water. Now I know why some of the salamanders swimming in my garden ponds are slightly different from others: some are tadpoles, some adults back from their years on land.  The University of Michigan says these creatures can live 12-15 years!

Of course as with everything in nature, there are exceptions: populations that skip the red eft stage (in some coastal areas) and others that never undergo the second metamorphosis back into the water. I think my pals are cut from the classic mold, but I am not a scientist.

In all this reading since Sally and I crossed paths this week, I also learned why he and his kin are not afraid to swim with the fishes (and I mean that literally, not in the Mafia-movie manner): Unlike other salamanders, the Red-Spotted Newt secretes a very untasty, toxic substance from its skin that differentiates them from a good meal. Who knew?

Are you ready, newts? Start walkin’.

Comments

5 Responses to “these newts are made for walkin’”

  1. Andrew Ritchie on May 30th, 2008 9:16 am

    Sal does Nancy proud! (And now that song is my head!)

    What fascinating little creatures.

  2. vertie on May 30th, 2008 4:15 pm

    What a beautiful color! I wonder why it changes color like that. I would think it would need to be less, not more, conspicuous as an unseasoned youth.

  3. margaret on May 30th, 2008 4:37 pm

    @Vertie: Isn’t that the question?…and nowhere do I find an answer. I did read another great article, from University of Michigan, which says the lifespan of these creatures can be 12-15 years (though mortality at larval stage is high). I just added this to the post, thanks to the extra-credit homework your comment got me doing. Amazing stuff.

  4. Linda MacPhee-Cobb on June 4th, 2008 8:41 pm

    Isn’t he cool looking? I’ve never seen one of those.

  5. margaret on June 4th, 2008 9:25 pm

    @Linda: According to the zoology museum at UMich, there technically are red newts in Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Florida, apparently near forest habitat and probably more to the east, but who knows where? I think you probably beat us on wild things, however, with lizards and crocodiles and geckos and other salamanders and various snakes I could really live without. Or so the museum at UTexas at Austin tells me. Any of those in the garden?

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