Male And Female Marbled Salamander

The marbled salamander looks like it just came out of the chrome plating shop with its metallic silvery white to gray bands on the dorsum of its black body.

Male and female marbled salamander.

This species is sexually dimorphic males tend to have white crossbands and females tend to have gray silvery crossbands. Fe males are larger and have sil very gray cross bands. It has a black body with white or silvery gray markings. Sporting white or gray bands across its body this secretive species is known to hide out beneath leaves and logs.

Amends 312 iac 9 8 5 governing commercial fishing on inland water. The marbled salamander is three to five inches long. Almost all carnivorous and omnivorous species in the animal kingdom think the marbled salamanders make a delicious snack. Adults can grow to about 11 cm 4 in small compared to other members of its genus.

Con sid ered sex u ally di mor phic males are smaller than fe males and have sil very white cross bands. They can be identified by their black dark brown body including its venter with light white silvery crossbands on the dorsum. The female has gray markings and the male has white markings. We used image analysis techniques to examine sexual dichromatism in the marbled salamander ambystoma opacum gravenhorst 1807.

The marbled salamander is a stocky boldly banded salamander. The male marbled salamanders have white bands and the female s bands are more silver grey. Marbled salamanders are very defensive about their territory. We measured the average hue of white saddles on male and female marbled salamanders n 118 as well as the proportion of white dorsal surface area relative to the black dorsal surface area to determine the.

The bands of females tend to be gray while those of males are more white. The marbled salamander is a relatively common resident throughout north carolina. Marbled salamanders grow to about 3 5 4 25 in 9 10 7 cm in size and are stout bodied and chubby in appearance. Male and female salamanders housed together rarely breed.

Like most of the mole salamanders it is secretive spending most of its life under logs or in burrows. However we can guarantee that someone very experienced with amphibians will attempt to select the specific salamander s you are requesting. Sexing your marbled salamander please feel free to request a male or female salamander or any combination thereof when you order our medium and adult sized amphibians but please be aware that we cannot guarantee the sex. Marbled salamanders are part of the mole salamander family which is a group of salamanders endemic to north america and the only genus in the.

Females tend to be larger with fuller bodies. Dur ing the breed ing sea son the cross bands be come very white and glands around the male s cloaca be come swollen.