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Giant Salamanders
Andrias japonicus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Lissamphibia Order: Caudata Family: Cryptobranchidae
Genera
Andrias   Cryptobranchus

The hellbenders and Asian giant salamanders (family Cryptobranchidae) are aquatic amphibians found in brooks and ponds in the eastern United States, China, and Japan. They are the largest living amphibians known today. The Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus), for example, reaches up to 1.44 m (4 [[Foot (unit)ft 9 in)^[1], feeds on fish and crustaceans, and can live for up to 80 years. The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) can reach a length of 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)^[2].

They hunt mainly at night, and as they have poor eyesight, use sensory nodes on their head and body to detect minute changes in water pressure, allowing them to detect their prey.

During mating season, these salamanders will travel upstream where, after the fertilization of the eggs, the male will guard them for at least six months. At this point, the offspring will live off their noticeable stored fat until ready to hunt. Once ready they will hunt as a group rather than individually.

Scientists at Asa Zoo in Japan have recently discovered that the male salamander will spawn with more than one female in his den. On occasion the male "den master" will also allow a second male into the den; the reason for this is unclear.

• Genus Cryptobranchus (hellbenders)
  • Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis )
• Genus Andrias (Asian giant salamanders; sometimes classified among the Cryptobranchus)
  • Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) – (Simplified Chinese: 娃娃鱼; pinyin: wāwāyú)
  • Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus) – (Japanese: オオサンショウウオ)

Japanese giant salamander.

In 1726 the Swiss physician Johann Jakob Scheuchzer described a fossil as Homo diluvii testis (Latin: "Evidence of a diluvian human"), believing it to be the remains of a human being that drowned in the biblical Deluge. The Teylers Museum in Haarlem, Netherlands bought the fossil in 1802, where it still is being exhibited. In 1812, the fossil was examined by Georges Cuvier, who recognized it as being a giant salamander and renamed it Andrias scheuchzeri, honoring both Scheuchzer and his beliefs (Andrias means 'image of man.')

The same species Andrias scheuchzeri plays a main role in Karel Čapek's book War with the Newts.

• Trinity Alps giant salamander

• Eastern Hellbender Fact Sheet
• Chinese Giant Salamander
• Japanese Giant Salamander
• Cryptobranchid Interest Group