Salamanders are amphibians which look kind of like lizards with tails and short legs, but unlike lizards they have no scales or claws and have smooth moist skin. There are 200 species of salamanders found throughout temperate environments, mostly in North America.
Most salamanders are terrestrial, living near water or in moist vegetation, but some make their homes in water, trees, burrows, or caves. Most are nocturnal and eat insects, worms, snails, and other creepy crawlies. Like geckos, they can grow back a lost leg or tail.
Though mostly terrestrial, salamanders generally breed in water at big hootenannys: they gather in large groups, dance the dance of love, and mate like the animals they are. The females store the sperm deposited by the males until their eggs are ready; the eggs are fertilized internally and then laid in small bodies of water like ponds or brooks, unless they are one of the more rare types that breed on land, in which case they'll deposit the eggs under rotten leaves and other vegetation.
In the egg the embryos generally go through a gill stage, so when they emerge they are basically little adults. Most salamanders have lungs, but there's a large family of the lungless (Plethodontidae) that breathe through their skin and throat lining. There are a few neotonous varieties that do not metamorphose into lunged adults, and the gilled juvenile form can reproduce: the sirens (Sirenidae) and mud puppies (Protidae) of the southern United States and the Mexican axolotl.
Other notable salamanders include the large family of newts and the blind salamanders that live in underground caves with skin covering their eyes. Though most are under 6 inches (15 cm) long, the giant salamander of Japan can reach 5 feet (1.5 m) in length, which sounds rather daunting.
See also fire salamander for fascinating lore about why legend has it that salamanders can be reborn from fire.
infoplease.com