Physical Description and Feeding
Cryptobranchids are largest salamanders, with large folds of skin along their flanks. These help increase the animal's surface area, allowing them to absorb more oxygen from the water. They have four toes on the forelimbs, and five on the hind limbs. Their metamorphosis from the larval stage is incomplete, so that the adults retain gill slits (although they also have lungs), and lack eyelids. They can reach a static size of 2 meters (6 feet 6 inches) in length. They weigh up to 145 lbs. Chinese Giant Salamanders have lived as long as 75 years in captivity. The Chinese giant salamander eats aquatic insects, fish, frogs and also crabs and shrimp.
They hunt mainly at night, and as they have poor eyesight, they use sensory nodes on their head and body to detect minute changes in water pressure, allowing them to detect their prey.
Read more about this topic: Giant Salamander
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