The Japanese Giant Salamander is the second largest salamander in the world! It is approximately 1.5 meters (5 feet) and about 55 pounds. They are normally dark with a wrinkled, black, gray, and brown skin and are drenched in a very sticky layer of mucus the helps fight of infections, bugs, and parasites. These salamanders are adapted all the way the western mountains in Japan, to the freezing weather and rushing water in many streams also located in Japan. In August, the mating season starts to begin. The males do the best they can to be the one who gets to fertilize another females’ eggs, which tend to be about 400 to 500 eggs. The eggs end up hatching in spring the next year.

The Japanese Giant Salamander is a very big predator to many animals from the small scraps of food to the large marine based invertebrates in the world. These salamanders don’t have competition or predators but pollution and chemical waste is starting to decrease the population in these salamanders.

These salamanders are located in the western Honshu Mountains and in the Kyushu Islands. In these mountains, it is very cold and has dense undergrowth. They also live in aquatic areas such as streams and rivers. The habitat’s that they live in are very dangerous because of dams the lack of forest. The areas in which these salamanders are located in are mostly Japan, but some have been seen in China.
 
The number of Japanese Giant Salamanders is shrinking largely because it’s losing its’ home because of the lack of forest and because of the amount of pollution in the air. They are on the near extinction list. There are only a hundred left in the world and it must grow, not shrink.

Learning about this salamander was very interesting because of how popular it is. There were many exciting things that stood out but some of my favorites were the fact that it is the second largest salamander in the world and it has a sharp tongue to attack and kill its prey. Also, when it’s irritated, a sticky slime covers over the mucus and smells like Japanese peppers.

Author: Austin R
Published: 05/2010

Source:

http://www.arkive.org/japanese-giant-salamander/andrias-japonicus/ 

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/asiatrail/giantsalamanders/default.cfm
http://www.giant-salamander.com/eshow.asp?ArticleID=480
http://www.animalaqua.com/japanese-giant-salamander/
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2006/5/Giant_Salamanders.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_giant_salamander 

Photo Credit:
G. Mösch, Der Japanische Riesensalamander und der fossile Salamander von Oeningen, Neujahrsblatt der NGZH Nr. 89, 1887. "Cryptobranchus japoniens Y. de Hoev. (Japanischer Riesensalamander.) Nach einer Photographie gezeichnet, in etwas mehr als 1/3 der natürlichen Grösse."