Blue-spotted Salamander

The blue-spotted salamander is a mole salamander native to the Great Lakes states and the northeastern United States, and to parts of Ontario and Quebec, ranging north to James Bay and west to southeastern Manitoba. It measures 10 to 14 centimeters long, with the tail making up about 40 percent of that length, and its bluish black skin is marked with blue and white flecks on the back and bluish white spots on the sides and tail; it has four toes on the front feet and five on the hind feet. It lives in moist deciduous forest and swampy woodland with sandy soil, breeding in vernal pools that hold water into midsummer, and is nocturnal, staying underground by day. It is assessed as least concern, though pure diploid individuals of the species are among the rarest amphibians in the northeastern United States.