Is a newt a salamander?Yes, but a salamander is not always a newt. Confused? The word "salamander" is the name for an entire group, or scientific order, of amphibians that have tails as adults. This includes amphibians commonly known as newts and sirens. Most salamanders look like a cross between a lizard and a frog. They have moist, smooth skin like frogs and long tails like lizards. The term "newt" is sometimes used for salamanders that spend most of each year living on land. The name "siren" is generally given to salamanders that have lungs as well as gills and never develop beyond the larval stage. Other names salamanders go by include olm, axolotl, spring lizard, water dog, mud puppy, hellbender, triton, and Congo eel. Whew!
Most salamanders are small, and fewspeciesare more than 6 inches (15 centimeters) long. Sirens have only two legs, but the other salamander species develop four legs as adults, with fleshy toes at the end of each foot. Some species, like paddle-tail newts, have fullywebbed feetwith very short toes for theiraquaticlifestyle. Those that like to dig and are less aquatic, such as the tiger salamander, have no webbing at all on their feet.
A salamander’s hind legs grow more slowly than its front legs. (Frogs and toads are just the opposite: their hind legs grow more quickly than their front legs.) All four legs on a salamander are so short that its belly drags on the ground. The axolotl (pronounced AX oh la tul), a unique salamander from Mexico, has the ability toregeneratemissing limbs and has become very important to scientific study.
The exception to having legs is found with the sirens. They don’t have hind legs at all! Their long, strong tails are flat to help sirens swim like a fish, with the tail flapping from side to side.
Different members of the salamander order have developed different ways of breathing. Sirens keep their gills all their lives, which allows them to breathe underwater. Others, such as the tiger salamander, lose their gills as they grow older and develop lungs to breathe air. But most, like thearborealsalamander and the California slender salamander, don’t have lungs or gills as adults. Commonly called lungless salamanders, they breathe through their skin and the thin membranes in the mouth and throat.
Newts usually have dry, warty skin, and salamanders have smooth, slick skin. But, of course, there are exceptions! Yet no matter what they may look or feel like, salamanders and newts need to keep their skin moist. If they get too hot and dry, they could die.
