One-Toed Amphiuma (Amphiuma pholeter)
Description: The one-toed amphiuma is considered aquatic, and ranges in coloration from gray-black to purplish-brown. Unlike the other two Amphiuma species which have distinctively lighter undersides, one-toed amphiumas are the same color on both the dorsum (back) and the venter (belly). It can also be distinguished by its cone-shaped head and toe number—one-toed amphiumas have one toe on each foot as opposed to the two or three exhibited by other Amphiuma species. It is the smallest species in the genus Amphiuma with the average adult size being 8.5 inches
Habitat: This species is found in deep, organic, liquid muck in alluvial swamps of low-gradient second or third order streams, spring runs, and occasionally swampy terrace streams in floodplains. It is very habitat-dependent, so maintenance of non-polluted muck is essential for its survival.
Range: One-toed amphiumas are generally known only to occur in parts of the Florida panhandle, extreme southern Georgia, and southern Alabama.
Found in these States:
AL |
FL |
GA |
MS
Diet: Like all amphiumas, one-toed amphiumas eat small, aquatic invertebrates such as crayfish, annelid worms, insect larvae, and occasionally fish or amphibian larvae.
Reproduction: Its breeding habits are largely unknown and eggs and hatchlings have never been observed.
Status: Listed as Near Threatened because its Extent of Occurrence is not much greater than 20,000 km2, and the extent and quality of its habitat are probably declining, thus making the species close to qualifying for Vulnerable.
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Amphibia - (Amphibians)
»» Order: Caudata - Salamanders
  »» Family: Amphiumidae - Amphiuma
»» Genus: Amphiuma
»» Species: Amphiuma pholeter - One-Toed Amphiuma
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Amphiuma pholeter", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.
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