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Olivia Goff, Belhaven Middle School

Atlantic County

Image of Blue-spotted Salamander. Atlantic County.Blue-spotted Salamander. Atlantic County. Olivia Goff
Blue-spotted salamander

I have just returned from my journey to a hardwood forest, home to the endangered species, the blue-spotted salamander. The blue-spotted salamander, also known as Ambystoma laterale, is a 10-14 cm creature that has midnight black skin with bright blue dots. The animal was proclaimed endangered in 1974 because of habitat loss and pesticide use. Their diet consists of various insects, slugs, earthworms, spider, snails, and centipedes. For protection, this little salamander when attacked releases a sticky, bad tasting liquid. They live 5-30 years and lay 500 eggs yearly. An interesting fact is that tail is 44% of its total body length.

Now that you know about our little forest friends, please stop using pesticides and cutting down our forests to bring back our population of blue-spotted salamanders!


Olivia Goff

Belhaven Middle

Linwood, NJ

Mr. Eissler