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Two-toed amphiuma

Amphiuma means · Salamanders and newts · Amphibians

Two-toed amphiuma (Amphiuma means): Eel-like, cylindrical salamander, 36.8-117 cm long, with four tiny vestigial legs each bearing two toes. Smooth skin, dark brown or black above and dark grey below; sexes alike. 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 means
Family
Amphiumidae
In North America
Native
Range
NatureServe lists it in the southeastern US coastal plain: Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Biology

How to identify it

Eel-like, cylindrical salamander, 36.8-117 cm long, with four tiny vestigial legs each bearing two toes. [1][2][3]

Smooth skin, dark brown or black above and dark grey below; sexes alike. [1][2][3]

Tiny eyes covered by skin with no lids; oily, slippery skin makes it hard to hold. [1][2][3]

Compared with the three-toed amphiuma: Three-toed has three toes on each foot (two-toed has two), and the two species overlap in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. [1][2][3]

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 two-toed amphiuma before you act. Compared with the three-toed amphiuma: Three-toed has three toes on each foot (two-toed has two), and the two species overlap in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Swamps, bayous, muddy sloughs, cypress heads, ditches, sluggish streams, wet meadows and muddy lakes with soft substrate or thick vegetation, usually near shore; often uses crayfish burrows. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Mainly nocturnal sit-and-wait ambush predator; finds prey by smell and touch; eats aquatic insects, crayfish, amphibians and water snakes. [1][2][3]

Digs or takes over burrows in muddy bottoms; primarily aquatic but may cross land, especially on rainy nights. [1][2][3]

Some populations may brumate in moss and mud in winter; Florida populations appear active year-round. [1][2][3]

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 southeastern US coastal plain: Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

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

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

    Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology