Amphiuma

Genus Amphiuma

Amphibian

Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing amphiumas. Most people have never even heard of these salamanders let alone seen one. Amphiumas are nocturnal animals that live in swamps, wetlands, and other slow moving waterways with muddy bottoms. They have long, thin bodies giving them a snake or eel-like appearance, which is why they’re also called blue eels, Congo eels, and conger eels - though these are all misnomers. There are other animals called conger eels but they’re actual eels and live in marine environments, amphiumas are amphibians and live in freshwater places.

Unlike other salamander species, amphiumas have teeth which can pierce human skin, so they can draw blood if encountered. They are not venomous or poisonous though as they don’t inject toxins with their bite nor are they toxic to consume. Some people actually eat them. They do, however, produce a lot of mucus, especially when disturbed. Coating their bodies in a slippery mucus helps them to escape predators, though some animals are still able to eat these salamanders such as king snakes, water moccasins, and mud snakes. In fact, mud snakes may exclusively eat amphiumas! In turn, the amphiuma’s diet is largely focused on crayfish, but they also take clams, snails, worms, small fish, and more!

Amphiumas are found throughout the southeastern and central southern United States. They are the longest living salamanders in their range reaching lengths up to nearly four feet (122cm). That’s up to double the length of the hellbender, the United States’ largest living salamander. Technically not all amphiumas will ever be this long, though. There are three amphiuma species and they’re pretty easy to tell apart from one another. Amphiumas have stubby little legs they use for balance, but not really much else. On these legs, each species has a different amount of toes. There are one, two, and three toed amphiumas. The one-toed amphiumas are much shorter than their more numerous toed congenerics.

Amphiumas are capable of moving around on land, but their legs don’t aid in this. They most frequently leave the water during rain storms when the ground is easier to maneuver. They also lay their eggs in sheltered areas near water though not necessarily in water. Something that sets these amphibians apart from many others is that the females fight over a male’s affections. They find each other through pheromones and the female can store the male’s sperm for months thus delaying egg laying until the optimal time. Eggs hatch with the onset of rains. They are laid, 40 to over 200 at a time, in strands like pearls strung together. The female remains with them until they hatch making sure to keep them protected and safe from drying out. It takes about three to four years before the young reach reproductive maturity and they may only procreate once every other year. How long amphiumas live in the wild is unknown though they’ve reached more than twenty years of age in captivity.

For more facts on amphiumas, check out the links below. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today. Thank you to our Patrons SpikeSpiegel93, Dad, and everyone else for their support of this channel! Thank you Casper for today’s request! And thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!