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Spotted salamander

Ambystoma maculatum · Salamanders and newts · Amphibians

Spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum): Stout salamander, 15-25 cm total length (females larger), with a broadly rounded snout and a head often swollen behind the jaw. Black, dark brown or dark grey above with two irregular rows of large round yellow or orange spots (24-45) from head to tail; unspotted individuals are rare. 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.

Spotted salamander on red autumn leaves
Adobe Stock · Free asset, Standard License (asset 1893065822)
Scientific name
Ambystoma maculatum
Family
Ambystomatidae
In North America
Native
Range
NatureServe lists it in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Québec, and in the eastern and central US from New England and Minnesota south to Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
Biology

How to identify it

Stout salamander, 15-25 cm total length (females larger), with a broadly rounded snout and a head often swollen behind the jaw. [1][2]

Black, dark brown or dark grey above with two irregular rows of large round yellow or orange spots (24-45) from head to tail; unspotted individuals are rare. [1][2]

Pale slate-grey underside; skin glands release a sticky white toxic fluid when threatened. [1][2]

Larvae are dull olive green with a nearly white belly; egg masses are compact, attached to submerged objects and covered in clear or milky-white jelly. [1][2]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Hardwood and mixed forests near swamps and vernal pools; breeds in vernal pools and semipermanent ponds, mostly fishless, in or beside forest. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Spends most of the year underground or under logs, stumps and mammal burrows; adults surface mainly on rainy nights during the breeding migration. [1][2]

Migrates to breeding pools March-April in the north and mainly December-February in the south; eggs may be laid under ice if adults are already in the pond. [1][2]

Adults eat forest-floor invertebrates (worms, snails, slugs, millipedes, insects); larvae eat small aquatic animals and can turn cannibalistic when pools dry. [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

NatureServe lists it in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Québec, and in the eastern and central US from New England and Minnesota south to Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

Biology

Sources

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

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

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

    Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology