Dunn’s salamander is a large woodland salamander of moist Northwest forests, dark brown to black with a tan, yellowish or greenish stripe down its back. Like the rest of its family it has no lungs at all and breathes through its skin, and it lives where the ground stays moist all year. It is the largest of the lungless salamanders in the Northwest, reaching about six inches long.
Its favorite habitat is the shaded, rocky edge of a cool forest stream: under rocks in the splash zone, among wet talus, and sometimes under logs, where the ground stays wet but the animal is not in flowing water. On rainy nights in the wet season it may wander out onto the forest floor, and in the Cascades the rains let it travel away from streams for a while. Most surface activity happens in spring and fall.
Every stage of its life happens on land. Females lay small clusters of eggs in hidden, moist spots such as rotting logs or wet rock crevices and guard them, and the eggs hatch straight into tiny salamanders with no swimming larval stage. When disturbed, a Dunn’s salamander may dash for cover or freeze in place. Logging and other changes that dry out streamside forest are its main threats. If you turn a rock to look, put it back gently where it was.
How to identify it
A large, slender salamander up to about 6 inches long, dark brown or black with a tan, yellow or greenish stripe down the back. The stripe has uneven, blotchy edges and stops short of the tail tip, and the sides are sprinkled with flecks and blotches of the same color. The tops of the legs are usually yellowish. Young animals are brighter.
Look-alikes
Western red-backed salamander often has a similar tan or yellow stripe, but the stripe usually reaches the tail tip, and its sides lack light flecks. Long-toed salamander has a rounded snout and a noticeably long fourth hind toe and lacks the small grooves between nostril and lip that lungless salamanders have.
Habitat
Shaded, rocky edges of humid forest streams, splash zones and moist talus, where the ground stays wet year-round. It may move away from streams in the rainy season. Its range reaches its northern limit in southwest Washington.
Sightings in the forest
193 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on October 29, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →