What Senses Do Salamanders Have?

Because of their moist skin and other similar features, salamanders have been mistaken for lizards. They actually belong to the Caudata order of amphibians and are found in the moist and arid habitats of the northern hemisphere. The Japanese giant salamander, also found in China, measures six feet from head to toe and can weigh up to 140 pounds. The smallest species of salamander, Thorius arboreus, measures only 0.6 inches from head to toe.



The salamander has six senses: touch, sight, taste, smell and the ability to detect magnetism.

  1. Touch

    • Salamanders live in or near water.

      Salamanders feel temperature and pain through mechanoreceptors (a sense organ that can be stimulated by any movement) in their dermis (skin). Their skin is also sensitive to chemical pollutants in our oceans and waters. Because of these sensitivities, and their dependence on water absorbed through their skin, salamanders are good barometers, so to speak, for the health of the environment.

    Sight

    • A photoreceptor is a photosensitive cell in the retina of vertebrate eyes.

      Salamanders live under rocks, in woodpiles and other cave-like, damp environments close to the ground and with little or no light. Their activity, such as hunting for prey, is chiefly at night. The salamander's photoreceptor enables them to distinguish movement and colors at a nearness or about 500 nanometers (one billionth of a meter), enabling them in their hunt and survival. The colors yellow, green, red and grey can be distinguished and also blue under certain conditions.

    Taste

    • Chemical stimuli in the salamanders' environment create a response that relates to the senses of taste and smell. That response is called chemoreception, and in terrestrial vertebrates, that system is found in the oral cavity.

      Most of the 10 currently recognized salamander families are known to respond to a chemical cue that affect different response systems including taste: for instance, hatching and seeking refuge. The chemical that initiates chemoreception in a salamander has not been isolated, so this area is still under research.

    Smell

    • Pet salamanders can be fed live worms in their habitat.

      Amphibians have a well-developed sense of smell that aids them, along with their vision, in their search for food. Sensory neurons send electrical charges to the brain that are decoded and enable the brain to "smell" the odor. In captivity, the salamander can find food that has fallen to bottom of his enclosure with his strong sense of smell, Food includes various worms like earthworms, bloodworms, crustaceans such as shrimp, fish, beef heart and other lean red meat.

    Magnetism

    • Salamanders have their own global positioning system. Some mistakenly call this a hearing sense because the salamander hugs the ground to detect vibrations. Research conducted by Cornell University biologist Kraig Adler and a group of his graduate students discovered that when salamanders are isolated and their other senses restricted, they can accurately detect the magnetic field and path leading to their home.