But the main threat to Chinese giant salamanders is humans hunting them with nets and hooks. As apex predators, they are used to slurping up a wide variety of aquatic creatures, and can accidentally swallow or become tangled in lines of hooks.
Unfortunately, the Chinese giant salamander has become a fashionable delicacy among the wealthy and is heavily poached, despite laws to protect them. Their habitat has become fragmented and their numbers have plummeted by 80 percent over the last few decades. Rushing home. The Chinese giant salamander is endemic to rocky, mountain rivers and large streams in China. They spend their time filling the top predator niche in rushing, freshwater ecosystems, chowing down on fish, frogs, worms, snails, insects, crayfish, crabs, and even smaller salamanders.
They feed using an efficient suction technique. Good vibrations. These amphibians spend their entire lives underwater, yet they do not have gills—they absorb oxygen through their porous skin. Sensory nodes run along the sides of the Chinese giant salamander's body from head to tail, enabling it to detect prey.
They are more active at night, on the prowl for food, and they hole up in underwater hollows and cavities during the day. Males may defend an underwater den where females can lay their strings of eggs, and he will fertilize them and protect them area until they hatch.
String him along. The breeding season is July, August, and September when the water temperature is 68 degrees Fahrenheit 20 degrees Celsius , and they travel upstream. He protects and cares for the eggs until they hatch, one to two months later. Larvae develop in the streams, taking food after about a month.
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Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology , Halliday, T. Salamanders and newts. In Halliday, T. Larson, A. Phylogenetic relationships of the salamander families: an analysis of congruence among morphological and molecular characters. Herpetological Monographs 7, Fossils, molecules, divergence times, and the origin of lissamphibians. Systematic Biology 56, Miller, L. Notes on the eggs and larvae of Aneides lugubris. Pryor, G. Gastrointestinal fermentation in greater sirens Siren lacertina.
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Salamandra 40, Wang, U. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 51, Weisrock, D. Resolving deep phylogenetic relationships in salamanders: analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear genomic data. Systematic Biology 54, Wiens, J. Ontogeny discombobulates phylogeny: paedomorphosis and higher-level salamander relationships.
Zhang, P. Phylogeny, evolution, and biogeography of Asiatic salamanders Hynobiidae. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Phylogeny and biogeography of the family Salamandridae Amphibia: Caudata inferred from complete mitochondrial genomes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 49, The views expressed are those of the author s and are not necessarily those of Scientific American. Darren Naish is a science writer, technical editor and palaeozoologist affiliated with the University of Southampton, UK.
He mostly works on Cretaceous dinosaurs and pterosaurs but has an avid interest in all things tetrapod. His publications can be downloaded at darrennaish. He has been blogging at Tetrapod Zoology since Check out the Tet Zoo podcast at tetzoo. Follow Darren Naish on Twitter.
Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Discover World-Changing Science. The oldest salamanders The oldest salamanders we know of are Middle Jurassic forms from central Asia Kokartus honorariu s and England two species of Marmorerpeton.
Cryptobranchoids: giant salamanders and Asiatic salamanders Two particularly ancient groups of salamanders are still around today: the hynobiids and the cryptobranchids. Of batrachosauroidids and scapherpetontids The amazing sirens Sirens Sirenidae are perhaps the strangest of salamanders.
Super-weird amphiumas A moment ago, we looked at the bizarre sirens. Axolotls and their friends and relatives The ish species of mole salamander, or ambystomatids, derive their name from their predominantly fossorial habits. The lungless salamanders Plethodontids — the mostly American lungless salamanders — are the most speciose c.
Salamandrids: ribs as weapons, viviparity, sex aids To many people, the most familiar of salamanders are the salamandrids: the mostly North American-Eurasian group that includes the newts and the familiar Fire salamander Salamandra salamandra and its relatives note that hyper-variable ' S. Mission massive. BBC Wildlife 15 4 , Get smart. Sign up for our email newsletter.
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