Description: Two-toed amphiumas can grow from 1.4 to 36.8 ozunces in mass and from 13.7 to 45.7 inches in length. They have four vestigial legs that end in two toes; the number of toes is one of the primary differences between Amphiuma means and its relatives, the one-toed and three-toed amphiumas. Additional genetic studies have been conducted on the three species; genetic distance estimates suggest that there is high levels of similarity between two-toed amphiumas and three-toed amphiumas, and much greater dissimilarity between the one-toed amphiuma and the two-toed amphiuma. The head is pointed and wedge-shaped, and the eyes are small. Adults retain a single gill slit on each side of the head. They are black, dark grey or dark brown in color. Two-toed amphiumas tend to be unicolored. Their dark dorsum contrasts with their slightly lighter ventrum.
Habitat: Amphiumas live in areas of shallow, heavily vegetated water in swamps, bayous, lakes, and ponds, as well as wet prairies. It has been found that their microhabitats largely coincide with high prey availability. They require a habitat with light soil, so they can burrow in it.
Range: Their range includes southeastern Virginia, eastern North Carolina, South Carolina, southern Georgia and Alabama, Florida, south Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and southeastern Texas.
Diet: Two-toed amphiumas feed on small fish, tadpoles, crawfish, insects and insect larvae. They are also recorded to prey on reptiles and amphibians such as southern cricket frogs, southern leopard frogs, greater sirens, peninsula newts, water snakes of the genus Nerodia and small mud turtles. Their hunting behavior is not thoroughly understood, but they are believed to forage actively for food and to wait under debris and in burrows for prey to approach them. They likely detect prey through olfaction.
Reproduction: Amphiumas breed from June to July in North Carolina and northern Florida. Females lay about 200 eggs in a damp cavity beneath debris, close to standing water, and they remain coiled around them during incubation (which lasts around five months). These eggs are laid in strings. Hatchlings are about 2 inches long with three pairs of light-colored external gills soon lost after hatching. In some conditions offspring can exhibit direct development and hatch without external gills. In a series of three studies conducted in northern Florida, two-toed amphiuma eggs hatched in response to inundation with water, can stand without feeding for 125 days by using resources from their yolk reserves, and the eggs can retain a period of no growth and still survive after 110 days on a moist substrate.
Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution and presumed large population.
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Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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