Stats

Lifespan: 15-20 yrs
Size: Medium
Diet: Carnivore
Activity: Nocturnal
Social: Solitary
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: California
Movement: Walking
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Toxins
Status: Near Threatened

About

A salamander endemic to California that famously migrates back to its natal ponds and streams each winter to breed. Its skin secretes tetrodotoxin, a nerve toxin potent enough to kill most predators, though a co-evolved population of resistant garter snakes still preys on it.

Life cycle

1.
egg
A jelly-coated egg is laid in water and develops over days into an aquatic larva.
2.
tadpole
A gilled tadpole swims and grazes on algae, slowly absorbing its tail and growing limbs.
3.
juvenile
A near-adult amphibian leaves the water with new legs and lungs, smaller than the mature form.
4.
adult
Fully grown at adult size, breathing air.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Caudata
Family: Salamandridae
Genus: Taricha
Species: Taricha torosa