Fire Salamander

The fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) is a glossy black salamander with yellow patches, living in damp European forests. It is threatened in some regions by an emerging fungal disease.

🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Fire Salamander in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Tetrapoda lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.

Glands in the skin release samandarin, an alkaloid neurotoxin, and the yellow on black pattern warns predators. The salamander gives birth to live larvae, which females deposit in streams, a trait known as larviparity.

A newly described fungus, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), probably imported from Asia with the pet trade, has devastated fire salamanders in the Netherlands and Belgium since about 2010, causing declines of more than 99 percent in some populations. See Amphibian Chytrid Fungus.

Several countries have restricted the import of salamanders and newts to stop the spread of Bsal, and field workers disinfect gear when working in amphibian habitats.

• Amphibian Chytrid Fungus — a related fungal pathogen
• Rough-skinned Newt — another toxic salamander