Northwestern Salamander vs. Pacific Giant Salamander

Both are big brown salamanders of the moist forests west of the Cascades, and both have gilled larvae and gilled adults. A: Plain brown, no marbling in the Northwestern Salamander; marbled black on a brown or coppery ground in the Pacific Giant Salamander. B: A swollen gland behind the eye in the Northwestern Salamander; a huge broad head with no gland in the Pacific Giant Salamander. C: Pond larva with long feathery gills in the Northwestern Salamander; stream larva, dark mottled, short bushy gills in the Pacific Giant Salamander. Northwestern larvae live mostly in ponds and lakes; Pacific Giant larvae in cold streams.

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

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