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Three-toed amphiuma

Amphiuma tridactylum · Salamanders and newts · Amphibians

Three-toed amphiuma (Amphiuma tridactylum): One of the largest salamanders: long cylindrical body to about 117 cm with four vestigial legs, each foot with three toes; hind legs shorter than front. Dark brown to black above with a markedly lighter belly and a dark underside to the neck. 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
Amphiuma tridactylum
Family
Amphiumidae
In North America
Native
Range
NatureServe lists it in the central and lower Mississippi valley region: Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Biology

How to identify it

One of the largest salamanders: long cylindrical body to about 117 cm with four vestigial legs, each foot with three toes; hind legs shorter than front. [1][2]

Dark brown to black above with a markedly lighter belly and a dark underside to the neck. [1][2]

Lidless, reduced eyes; retains a laterally compressed tail and lateral-line system as an adult; copious mucus makes it hard to grip; males have wider, heavier heads. [1][2]

Compared with the two-toed amphiuma: Two-toed has two toes on each foot (three-toed has three); both occur in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. [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 three-toed amphiuma before you act. Compared with the two-toed amphiuma: Two-toed has two toes on each foot (three-toed has three); both occur in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Wooded alluvial swamps, calcareous streams, floodland marshes and lakes, seepy pools and bayou or cypress-slough banks with extensive crayfish burrow networks. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Nocturnal, most active around midnight; ambush predator that eats mainly crayfish, plus fish, insects, snails and amphibians. [1][2]

Non-migratory with a small home range around a burrow; aestivates in burrows in dry seasons; individuals often show bite marks. [1][2]

Active throughout the year along the Gulf Coast. [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 the central and lower Mississippi valley region: Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

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