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Coal skink

Plestiodon anthracinus · Lizards · Reptiles

Coal skink (Plestiodon anthracinus): Medium lizard, 5-7 in, with smooth shiny scales and short legs; back olive-gray to brown. Wide dark brown or black lateral stripe from head onto tail, edged above and below by a thin light line; belly gray or bluish-gray. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Coal skink — verified North Ground species photograph
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Scientific name
Plestiodon anthracinus
Family
Scincidae
In North America
Native
Range
Only the Tennessee range was sourced: a southern coal skink subspecies along the Tennessee River in the west and a northern one in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Biology

How to identify it

Medium lizard, 5-7 in, with smooth shiny scales and short legs; back olive-gray to brown. [1][2]

Wide dark brown or black lateral stripe from head onto tail, edged above and below by a thin light line; belly gray or bluish-gray. [1][2]

No stripe down the centre of the back (the common and southeastern five-lined skinks have one). [1][2]

Breeding males have an orange or reddish tint on the sides of the head; females slightly larger. [1][2]

Compared with the common five-lined skink: Five-lined skink has a stripe down the centre of the back; coal skink does not. [1][2]

Compared with the southeastern five-lined skink: Southeastern five-lined skink has a stripe down the centre of the back; coal skink does not. [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a coal skink before you act. Compared with the common five-lined skink: Five-lined skink has a stripe down the centre of the back; coal skink does not.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Open, moist forests near streams, rivers or sloughs, also rocky hillsides and near springs; humid wooded areas with leaf litter and loose rocks, sometimes clearcuts and rights-of-way. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Courtship and breeding in spring (late winter in Georgia); females lay 4-9 eggs in rotten logs or moist soil and guard them. [1][2]

Eats small insects and spiders. [1][2]

Sheds its tail if grasped; active March-September in Kansas and all year in Georgia; often shelters under logs and rocks near water and may take refuge in water. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Only the Tennessee range was sourced: a southern coal skink subspecies along the Tennessee River in the west and a northern one in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. BIOLOGICALCoal Skink

    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency