Salamanders

Salamander

many species

Salamanders are terrestrial as adults, but eggs and larvae are aquatic. Larvae have both gill slits and external gills. A few species are completely aquatic, retaining these features as adults. Some salamanders are boldly colored and patterned and easy to identify, but many are simply small and brown and very difficult to tell apart, like this one.

A tiny larval salamander

A tiny larval salamander at Dutch Springs. Possibly some kind of Dusky Salamander.


Almost all diving activities, whether in the tropics or in colder waters, will require some sort of exposure suit. For local conditions, this means either a full heavy wetsuit or a drysuit. For the tropics, there are thinner wetsuits and fabric skins, but these are never warm enough for use around here. Water temperatures in the north Atlantic vary from just above freezing at depth during the coldest part of the year to the mid-seventies at the surface during the warmest. Typically, you can expect high-fifties to low-sixties at depth even over the summer.