The smiley-faced whopper grows up to 1.8m long and weighs as much as a 10-year-old child. It sounds like a child too, making crying and moaning noises that have earned it the nickname ‘wáyáyú’ or ‘infant fish.’
It lives in the rivers and streams of central China, where its mottled appearance helps it to blend in with the rocky riverbeds. Lacking gills, this amphibian breathes through its skin and so depends on the oxygen-rich, fast-flowing waters it calls home. There, it chows down on small animals, such as frogs, worms, fish and snails, which it draws into its mouth via a powerful suction mechanism.
Prey items can briefly reach speeds of up to 1.4 metres per second, before finding themselves inside the salamander’s stomach.
A living fossil, this goliath been around since the age of the dinosaurs, but it’s now critically endangered, due to habitat loss, water pollution and poaching. Wild animals are caught to supply salamander farms, which sell the animals as a luxury food item.
China’s government supports plans to restock the wild salamanders using farmed animals, but conservationists warn that this could transfer disease and runs the risk of hybridising populations that are genetically unique.
Read more:
- What is an axolotl? Everything you need to know about this charismatic amphibian
- What is a red-lipped batfish?
- What is a scaly-foot snail?
- What is a coconut crab?
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