Fish/Amphibian Thumbnails
Arth/Fish/Amphibian Quiz
Amphibian Spotlights (6)

• Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum)
• Desert Spadefoot (Scaphiopus couchi)
• Southern Spadefoot (Scaphiopus hammondi)
• Red-spotted Toad (Bufo punctatus)
• Sonoran Desert Toad (Bufo alvarius)
• Canyon Treefrog (Hyla arenicolor)

Amphibians include salamanders, newts, toads, frogs, spadefoots, etc. Most amphibians (including all ours) lay jelly-like eggs (anamniotic) in water, and these eggs hatch into an aquatic larval stage called larvae or tadpoles. Amphibians have permeable skin, allowing them to "breath" and absorb water through their skin, but also making them susceptible to drying out in our arid climate. Consequently, our amphibians spend much of their time underground, in burrows that they or other animals have dug. Thus, amphibians are most likely to be seen after summer rains (occasionally after spring rains) around temporary or permanent sources of water as they hastily reproduce and feed.

Major sources of information include ASDM (2000).