How to identify it
Slender salamander with light grey or bronze mottling over a brown to greyish-black head, back and tail. [1][2][3]
Adults 75-130 mm total length (50-76 mm snout-vent), weighing 1.5-5.6 g. [1][2][3]
Squared-off toes and no constriction at the base of the tail separate it from other lungless salamanders in British Columbia. [1][2][3]
Juveniles have a bronze dorsal stripe and a bronze patch on the head and snout that fade with age; adult colour is reached at about 45 mm snout-vent. [1][2][3]
Compared with the clouded salamander: Formerly treated as the same species (A. ferreus); the sources read give no simple field mark, so locality and expert identification are the guides. [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.
- Clouded salamander · Aneides ferreus
Where it lives
Moist forest (Douglas-fir, redwood, hardwood-conifer) in humid coastal areas, using logs, bark, talus and rock crevices for refuge and breeding. [1][2][3]
How it behaves
Terrestrial and probably nocturnal; moves short distances (94% of recaptures within 10 m) and estivates deep in logs and moist crevices in dry periods. [1][2][3]
Lives in and on large decaying logs and bark, and in old-growth forest canopy; on seabird islands it uses drift logs and burrows. [1][2][3]
Eggs (3-28) are laid in a gelatinous cluster under bark or in a rotting log; females guard nests and young hatch as miniature adults. [1][2][3]
Feeds on small arthropods such as ants, beetles, spiders, isopods and mites. [1][2][3]
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
- California — amphibian take · 2026 California Freshwater Sport Fishing Regulations (updated July 10, 2026), 14 CCR 5.05/5.60
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.
Where it is found
Humid coastal forests of northern California (Del Norte to Sonoma County) and, in Canada, Vancouver Island, adjacent small islands and one Sunshine Coast location in British Columbia; absent from Oregon and Washington.
Sources
Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.
NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30
NatureServe
Environment and Climate Change Canada · reviewed 2026-09-30
Environment and Climate Change Canada
California Department of Fish and Wildlife · reviewed 2026-09-30
California Department of Fish and Wildlife