Salamanders are amphibians often mistaken for lizards due to their elongated bodies and tails. These creatures exhibit diverse forms and behaviors, inhabiting various environments from terrestrial forests to aquatic systems. As a group, salamanders are entirely carnivorous, meaning their diet consists exclusively of other animals. This predatory nature is consistent across all life stages, from their aquatic larval forms to their adult terrestrial or aquatic phases.
Main Food Sources
Adult salamanders are opportunistic predators that primarily consume a variety of small invertebrates. Common food items for terrestrial adult salamanders include insects such as crickets, beetles, flies, and ants. They also frequently feed on worms like earthworms, as well as slugs, snails, and spiders.
Larger salamander species can expand their diet to include bigger prey. This may involve small crustaceans like crayfish, or even small fish, frogs, and occasionally other salamanders. Some of the largest salamanders, such as the Chinese giant salamander, are known to consume crabs and shrimp.
How Salamander Diets Change
A salamander’s diet shifts significantly throughout its life cycle and is influenced by its habitat and hunting methods. Larval salamanders, which typically hatch in aquatic environments, are also carnivorous from birth. They feed on small aquatic invertebrates, such as insect larvae (like those of midges and mosquitoes), small crustaceans (such as daphnia and fairy shrimp), and roundworms. As these larvae grow, they can consume larger aquatic prey.
When salamanders undergo metamorphosis and transition to their adult form, their diet often changes to reflect their new environment. Terrestrial adults hunt for prey on land, while aquatic adults continue to forage in water. For example, terrestrial salamanders actively seek out land-dwelling insects and other arthropods, while fully aquatic species pursue water-borne organisms like brine shrimp and bloodworms.
Salamanders are generally ambush predators, often waiting for prey to come within striking distance before capturing it. Many species use a sticky tongue that can be rapidly extended to snatch prey, with some able to extend and retract their tongue in milliseconds. Aquatic salamanders, lacking the same tongue structure, capture prey by grasping it with their teeth and using suction feeding, rapidly drawing water and the prey into their mouths.