Compare two species

Blue Ridge Blackbelly Salamander vs. Seal Salamander

Both are big, keel-tailed duskies under the same rocks in the same mountain streams, and young blackbellies are about Seal-sized. A: Jet black in adults (paler in the young) in the Blue Ridge Blackbelly Salamander; clean white or pinkish, sharply set off from the sides in the Seal Salamander. B: Two rows of small whitish dots along each side in the Blue Ridge Blackbelly Salamander; no rows of dots: a net of dark, worm-like lines in the Seal Salamander. C: Dark brown to black, mottled with rusty blotches in the Blue Ridge Blackbelly Salamander; lighter brown with bold dark worm-like blotches in the Seal Salamander. D: Heavier, with a bigger, deeper head; up to 7 or 8 in in the Blue Ridge Blackbelly Salamander; slimmer, with a smaller head; up to about 5.5 in in the Seal Salamander.

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Blue Ridge Blackbelly Salamander

Desmognathus mavrokoilius

Seal Salamander

Desmognathus monticola

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

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