Sometimes it is hard to come up with a topic to write about and other times it just jumps out at me. Just before I was about to write my column for the week, I was out playing frisbee with Lily (my dog). Let me rephrase that, I’m her human, as she has me well trained. Anyway a squirrel ran by and Lily was in hot pursuit. She had forgotten, as usual, that we had black deer netting up around the backyard to discourage the deer from coming to visit, which of course she bowled through. So I had to go fix the fence and while there saw this little guy crawling on the forest floor. It’s not a salamander, but a newt. In fact this is the juvenile form of the Eastern Newt. 

The Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) is common in eastern North America, with a range from New Brunswick in Canada down to northern Georgia and the coast to the Mississippi River. It frequents small lakes, ponds, and streams or nearby wet forests. The eastern newt produces tetrodotoxin, which makes the species unpalatable to predatory fish and crayfish which leads this little guy to an amazing lifespan of twelve to fifteen years in the wild. They may grow to approximately five inches in length and can be kept as an aquarium pet if given the proper care. 

The striking bright orange juvenile stage (shown here), which is land-dwelling, is known as a red eft. Eastern newts have three life stages the first being the aquatic larva or tadpole. The larva stage is a period of two to five months where the larva possesses gills and does not leave the pond environment where it was hatched. Larvae are brown-green, and shed their gills when they transform into the red eft, which is stage two in their development. The red eft (juvenile) stage is a bright orangish-red, with darker red spots outlined in black. 

During this stage, the eft may travel far, acting as a dispersal stage from one pond to another, ensuring outcrossing in the population. The striking coloration of this stage is an example of aposematism (warning coloration) which is a type of antipredator adaptation in which a “warning signal” is associated with the unprofitability of a prey item to potential predators. Their tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin which is also the strongest emetic (causes vomiting) that is known. After two or three years, the eft finds a pond and transforms into the aquatic adult. The adult’s skin is a dull olive green dorsally, with a dull yellow belly, but retains the eft’s characteristic black-rimmed red spots. It develops a larger, blade-like tail and characteristically slimy skin. Their dietary habits prove to be beneficial to humans because they help to control insect populations and maintain balance to their habitats. 

Even with their neurotoxin, Eastern Newts do have a number of natural predators, including fish, snakes, birds, and larger salamanders, not to mention my feet if I wasn’t paying attention. 

Red efts are often seen in a forest after a rainstorm, and we have had a few of those lately. So next time you are out on a hike or even just in your own backyard, keep an eye out for this colorful little creature.