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Mud salamander

Pseudotriton montanus · Salamanders and newts · Amphibians

Mud salamander (Pseudotriton montanus): Stocky, coral pink, bright red, rusty or brownish-salmon with a short tail; 7-17 cm. Dorsal black spots distinct or obscure; older individuals darker; belly reddish or yellowish; eyes brown. 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.

Scientific name
Pseudotriton montanus
Family
Plethodontidae
In North America
Native
Range
Southeastern United States from southern New York to northern Florida and from the Atlantic coast west to Kentucky and Tennessee. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Stocky, coral pink, bright red, rusty or brownish-salmon with a short tail; 7-17 cm. [1][2]

Dorsal black spots distinct or obscure; older individuals darker; belly reddish or yellowish; eyes brown. [1][2]

16-18 costal grooves; red salamander has a yellow iris and longer snout. [1][2]

Compared with the red salamander: Red salamander has a yellow iris and a longer snout; mud salamander has brown eyes. [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 mud salamander before you act. Compared with the red salamander: Red salamander has a yellow iris and a longer snout; mud salamander has brown eyes.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Muddy springs, slow floodplain streams, swamps, bogs and beaver-pond backwaters; under logs and rocks, in decaying vegetation, muddy bank burrows and crayfish holes. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Secretive and difficult to find; retreats into burrows, stays at the burrow entrance, and builds underground passages and underwater tunnels. [1][2]

Not migratory; eats earthworms, insects, arthropods and possibly other salamanders. [1][2]

Females lay 65-200 eggs in late fall to early winter, apparently every other year; larvae take 14-32 months to metamorphose. [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

Southeastern United States from southern New York to northern Florida and from the Atlantic coast west to Kentucky and Tennessee. Not in Canada.

Biology

Sources

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

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web