Spotted salamanders are found over a wide area of North America, from northwestern Wisconsin to eastern Texas and the Atlantic Coast.
Their range includes southern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime Provinces in Canada and extends south to Mississippi and Alabama.
An adult spotted salamander reaches lengths of 8 inches or more. The female is slightly larger than the male.
The animal's background color is dark bluish-gray or black, with a series of round yellow or orange patches or dots along the sides, from the head to the tail. There may be 50 or more such markings on a large salamander.
Salamander larvae feed mostly on daphnia, tiny freshwater crustaceans that are also known as water fleas.
The adults catch food with their sticky tongues. The diet includes a variety of insects, spiders, worms, slugs, and snails.
The spotted salamander is one of "mole salamanders," which spend much of their time underground, either in existing animal burrows or beneath logs and rocks.
Breeding season begins with the first night rain after the spring thaw, when the temporary vernal pools form. Males enter the breeding pools first. When the females arrive, the males engage in a courtship dance and release packets of sperm, called spermatophores, that stick to objects on the bottom of the pool.
Each female lays an average of 125 eggs, sometimes in several separate clusters and sometimes in one large mass. Depending on water temperature, eggs incubate for one or two months. Newly-hatched larvae have tiny front legs but no hind legs. It takes anywhere between 60 and 110 days for larvae to develop into adults. About a week after the transformation is complete, the distinctive spots form on the body.