Spring and seepage salamanders

     Percolating little springs and inch-deep trickles of clear water are charming amidst matted carpets of fallen, dead leaves, patches of moss, stands of shining club moss and many large leaves of skunk cabbage plants on the shaded, bottomland floors of deciduous woods in the Mid-Atlantic States.  White-tailed deer, gray foxes, gray squirrels and a variety of woodland birds, including wild turkeys, wood thrushes, ovenbirds and scarlet tanagers, drink from their cool waters.  Box turtles and wood turtles soak in their cooling waters during hot, summer days.  And at least five attractive species of lungless salamanders, each about five inches long, live in, and are somewhat restricted to, those enchanting, aquatic habitats where, in my imagination, Forest Fairies could dwell.  They include dusky, two-lined, long-tailed, spring and red salamanders.  
      Adults and juveniles of those salamander species hide under mats of fallen leaves, clumps of alga and stones on the bottoms of these clear, cool springs and seeps.  But when exposed, they quickly wiggle away to nearby cover.  They don't have lungs, but take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide through their thin, moist skins and throat linings.  Being amphibians, they have smooth, damp skins that must stay that way for survival.  And these amphibians, these salamanders, can exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen whether in water or in moist air.   
     All salamanders, young and old, including these species, consume a variety of invertebrates they find tucked away in and around their home springs and rivulets, and the immediate forest floor during times of warmth and rain.  Salamanders have excellent vision with their large, appealing eyes they use to locate their prey in partial darkness.
     All these lungless salamander species spawn eggs in the tiny, crystalline seeps they live in on woodland floors.  The aquatic young are a half inch long, and plain to blend into their protective, watery habitats.  They feed on tiny invertebrates in the water, mature and, eventually, spawn themselves in their home trickles and springs.  
     These five attractive species of salamanders are different in skin colors and patterns, which helps identify them.  Dusky salamanders, for example, are brown with darker markings, which camouflages them.  Two-lined salamanders are dull-yellow on top, with two dark lines down their backs from their heads to their tails.  Long-tailed salamanders are delightfully striking with pale-orange skins, dotted with black.  And the related spring and red salamanders are vividly orange with black spots.  These latter two species are more robust than other kinds of lungless salamanders.
     A few kinds of lungless salamanders are THEE charming, amphibian residents in the small, intriguing springs and rivulets in bottomland woods in the Middle Atlantic States.  Those pretty amphibians and their interesting habitats are beautiful, like a home for Forest Fairies, amid carpets of fallen dead leaves, moss, shining club moss and skunk cabbage leaves under the green canopies of summer woods.