This aberrant marbled salamander was found in South Carolina.
At a total length of 3 ½ to 5 inches, when adult the pretty little marbled salamander, Ambystoma opacum, is only about half the length of the more familiar spotted salamander.The marbled salamander ranges southward from extreme souther NH to peninsular Florida and then westward to central western MO and eastern TX. Clad in a pretty barred dorsal pattern of white on black (male) or silver-gray on black (female) these are secretive little woodland caudatans that often require a lot of log rolling to be found.

Unlike many of the mole salamander, rather than being a spring breeder in ephemeral ponds and puddles, the marbled salamander is an autumn breeder. And rather than seeking a pond already filled, after the terrestrial courtship and fertilization, the female opacum finds a moist depression, one still lacking water but that in some way known to the salamander will (hopefully) soon be filled by the forthcoming late autumn rains, and there it lays its clutch of eggs. Once submerged larval development begins, eggs hatch, larvae grow and metamorphose, and the little salamanders find some nearby moist terrestrial site to dine, grow, and eventually repeat the rather complicated procedure. If the rains fail to materialize, the eggs, waiting patiently, have been known to remain viable for several weeks.

Newly metamorphosed marbled salamanders are dark gray to black with variably busy grayish-white dorsal and lateral patterns of flecks and specks.