Giant salamander
| Giant Salamanders | |
|---|---|
| |
| Andrias japonicus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | Cryptobranchidae
|
| Genera | |
The Hellbenders and Asian Giant Salamanders (Cryptobranchidae) are aquatic amphibians found in brooks and ponds in the eastern United States, China and Japan. They are the largest living amphibians known today. The Japanese Giant Salamander, for example, reaches up to two metres and feeds on fish and crustaceans, and can live for up to 80 years.
They hunt mainly at night, and as they have poor eyesight, use sensory nodes on their head and body to detect minute changes in water pressure, allowing them to detect their prey.
Reproduction
During mating season, these salamanders will travel upstream where, after the fertilization of the eggs, the male will guard them for at least six months. At this point, the offspring will live off their noticeable stored fat until ready to hunt. Once ready they will hunt as a group rather than individually.
Scientists at Asa Zoo in Japan have recently discovered that the Male Salamander will spawn with more than one female in his den. On occassion the male "Den Master" will also allow a second male into the den, the reason for this is unclear.
Scientific names
- Genus Cryptobranchus (Hellbenders)
- Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis )
- Genus Andrias (Giant Salamanders)
- Chinese Giant Salamander (Andrias davidianus) - (Simplified Chinese: 娃娃鱼; pinyin: wāwāyú).
- Japanese Giant Salamander (Andrias japonicus)
In 1726 the Swiss physician Johann Jakob Scheuchzer described a fossil as Homo diluvii testis (Witness of the Great Flood), believing it to be the remains of a human being that drowned in the biblical Deluge. The Teylers Museum in Haarlem (the Netherlands) bought the fossil in 1802, where it still is being exhibited. In 1812 the fossil was examined by Georges Cuvier, who recognized it as being a Giant Salamander and renamed it Andrias scheuchzeri, honoring both Scheuchzer and his beliefs (Andrias means 'image of man.')
The same species Andrias scheuchzeri plays a main role in Karel Čapek's book War with the Newts.