The hellbender, also known as the hellbender salamander, is a species of aquatic giant salamander endemic to the eastern and central United States. It is the largest salamander in North America. A member of the family Cryptobranchidae, the hellbender is the only extant member of the genus Cryptobranchus. Other closely related salamanders in the same family are in the genus Andrias, which contains the Japanese and Chinese giant salamanders. The hellbender is much larger than any other salamander in its geographic range, and employs an unusual adaption for respiration through cutaneous gas exchange via capillaries found in its lateral skin folds. It fills a particular niche – both as a predator and prey – in its ecosystem, which either it or its ancestors have occupied for around 65 million years. The species is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to the impacts of disease and widespread habitat loss and degradation throughout much of its range.
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten extant salamander families are grouped together under the order Urodela from the group Caudata. Urodela is a scientific Latin term based on the Ancient Greek οὐρά δήλη: ourà dēlē "conspicuous tail". Caudata is the Latin for "tailed ones", from cauda: "tail".
Amphiuma is a genus of aquatic salamanders from the United States, the only extant genus within the family Amphiumidae. They are colloquially known as amphiumas. They are also known to fishermen as "conger eels" or "Congo snakes", which are zoologically incorrect designations or misnomers, since amphiumas are actually salamanders, and not fish, nor reptiles and are not from Congo. Amphiuma exhibits one of the largest complements of DNA in the living world, around 25 times more than a human.
The axolotl is a paedomorphic salamander closely related to the tiger salamander. It is unusual among amphibians in that it reaches adulthood without undergoing metamorphosis. Instead of taking to the land, adults remain aquatic and gilled. The species was originally found in several lakes underlying what is now Mexico City, such as Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco. These lakes were drained by Spanish settlers after the conquest of the Aztec Empire, leading to the destruction of much of the axolotl's natural habitat.
The tiger salamander is a species of mole salamander and one of the largest terrestrial salamanders in North America.
The Cryptobranchidae are a family of large salamanders that are fully aquatic. The family includes some of the largest living amphibians. They are native to China, Japan, and the eastern United States. Giant salamanders constitute one of two living families—the other being the Asiatic salamanders belonging to the family Hynobiidae—within the Cryptobranchoidea, one of two main divisions of living salamanders.
Plethodontidae, or lungless salamanders, are a family of salamanders. With over 500 species, lungless salamanders are by far the largest family of salamanders in terms of their diversity. Most species are native to the Western Hemisphere, from British Columbia to Brazil. Only two extant genera occur in the Eastern Hemisphere: Speleomantes and Karsenia.
The olm or proteus is an aquatic salamander which is the only species in the genus Proteus of the family Proteidae and the only exclusively cave-dwelling chordate species found in Europe; the family's other extant genus is Necturus. In contrast to most amphibians, it is entirely aquatic, eating, sleeping, and breeding underwater. Living in caves found in the Dinaric Alps, it is endemic to the waters that flow underground through the extensive limestone bedrock of the karst of Central and Southeastern Europe in the basin of the Soča River near Trieste, Italy, southern Slovenia, southwestern Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Introduced populations are found near Vicenza, Italy, and Kranj, Slovenia. It was first mentioned in 1689 by the local naturalist Valvasor in his Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, who reported that, after heavy rains, the olms were washed up from the underground waters and were believed by local people to be a cave dragon's offspring.
The two-toed amphiuma is an aquatic salamander widely distributed in the southeastern United States. It is commonly, but incorrectly, called "congo snake", "conger eel" or the "blind eel".
The common mudpuppy is a species of salamander in the family Proteidae. It lives an entirely aquatic lifestyle in parts of North America in lakes, rivers, and ponds. It goes through paedomorphosis and retains its external gills. Because skin and lung respiration alone is not sufficient for gas exchange, the common mudpuppy must rely on external gills as its primary means of gas exchange. It is usually a rusty brown color and can grow to an average total length of 13 in (330 mm). It is a nocturnal creature, and is active during the day only if the water in which it lives is murky. Its diet consists of almost anything it can get into its mouth, including insects, mollusks, and earthworms. Once a female common mudpuppy reaches sexual maturity at six years of age, she can lay an average of 60 eggs. In the wild, the average lifespan of a common mudpuppy is 11 years.
Necturus is a genus of aquatic salamanders in the family Proteidae. Species of the genus are native to the eastern United States and Canada. They are commonly known as waterdogs and mudpuppies. The common mudpuppy (N. maculosus) is probably the best-known species – as an amphibian with gill slits, it is often dissected in comparative anatomy classes. The common mudpuppy has the largest distribution of any fully aquatic salamander in North America.
The western waterdog is a species of aquatic salamander in the family Proteidae. It is endemic to the deep South, where it occurs in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
Gerrothorax is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Triassic period of Greenland, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and possibly Thailand. It is known from a single species, G. pulcherrimus, although several other species such as G. pustuloglomeratus have been named in the past.
The dwarf waterdog is an aquatic salamander endemic to the Eastern United States. It is the smallest member of the family Proteidae.
The Alabama waterdog is a medium-sized perennibranch salamander inhabiting rivers and streams of Alabama. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Neuse River waterdog is a medium-sized waterdog of the family Proteidae found in streams and rivers in two watersheds of North Carolina.
The Red River mudpuppy, also called Louisiana waterdog or Red River waterdog, is a subspecies of aquatic salamander in the family Proteidae.
A water dog is a type of gundog bred to flush and retrieve game from water.
