Animal
Japanese giant salamander
The Japanese giant salamander is a huge, wrinkly salamander that lives in rivers in Japan. It can grow nearly as long as a grown-up is tall!
The Japanese giant salamander is one of the biggest salamanders in the world, growing up to 1.5 meters long. It lives its whole life in cool, clear rivers in Japan, breathes mostly through its wrinkly skin, and the fathers guard the eggs and babies for months.
Andrias japonicus is a fully aquatic, nocturnal cryptobranchid endemic to western Japan. Adults can reach 1.5 meters; individuals have been followed for about 40 years, and lifespans are suspected to reach a century. Males guard eggs and larvae in riverbank dens. The IUCN lists it as Vulnerable (2022), mainly because of river engineering and hybridization with introduced Chinese giant salamanders.
Photo: Salamandra2021, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the giant
The Japanese giant salamander is very, very big.
It has a flat head, tiny eyes and wrinkly brown skin. It lives in rivers and stays in the water all its life.
The Japanese giant salamander is an amphibian, like frogs and newts, but it is enormous. The biggest ones grow up to 1.5 meters long, nearly as long as a grown-up is tall, and weigh up to 23 kilograms.
It has a wide, flat head, a long body, a broad tail and wrinkly skin mottled in black and shades of brown. Its eyes are tiny. Unlike most salamanders, it never leaves the water as an adult. In Japan one of its names means "big pepper fish," because of the peppery smell it gives off when upset.
Andrias japonicus belongs to the Cryptobranchidae, a family with only three living groups: the Japanese giant salamander, the Chinese giant salamanders and the North American hellbender. The Smithsonian's National Zoo gives a maximum length of about 1.5 meters and weight of about 23 kilograms and calls it the second-largest salamander species, after the Chinese giant salamander.
It has a flat head, small eyes, long broad tail and wrinkled, mottled skin. Males and females look alike except in the breeding season, when males develop a swollen cloaca. When stressed it secretes a sticky white mucus that smells like Japanese pepper, which gave it a common name in Japan that translates to "big pepper fish."
Quick facts
- Group
- Amphibian
- Length
- up to 1.5 m
- Weight
- up to 23 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- from 70 years
Where it lives
Japanese giant salamanders live only in Japan.
They live in cool, clear rivers in the hills and forests. In the day they hide under rocks and in holes in the riverbank.
This giant lives only in Japan: in the western part of the main island, Honshu, and in parts of the islands of Shikoku and Kyushu. It lives in rivers from about 30 to 1,000 meters above sea level.
It likes clear, cool water with rocks or gravel on the bottom, usually where forests grow along the banks. Its rivers range from small streams 1 to 4 meters wide to big rivers 20 to 50 meters wide. By day the salamander hides in burrows and rock crevices along the water's edge.
The IUCN describes the species as endemic to Japan, in western Honshu (the Chubu, Kinki and Chugoku regions) and parts of Shikoku and Kyushu, at 30 to 1,000 meters. It lives and breeds in rivers from small (1 to 4 meters wide) to large (20 to 50 meters wide), preferring clear water with rocky or gravel beds, usually in forest; it has occasionally been found in urban rivers.
Environmental DNA and field surveys (Bjordahl and colleagues, 2020) showed that small tributary streams matter more than once thought, especially for smaller breeding adults and for the development of larvae and juveniles. Adults tolerate a variety of habitats but cannot necessarily breed in them. The National Zoo notes that giant salamanders need cold, fast-flowing, well-oxygenated water.
Continent
Its habitats
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Clear, cool rivers and streams of western Honshu (Chubu, Kinki and Chugoku regions) and parts of Shikoku and Kyushu, from about 30 to 1,000 meters above sea level. It lives only in Japan, and only in the western half of the country.
Places: Japan.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Japan, China, Denmark, United States, Australia and Sweden.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
A patient hunter
Giant salamanders eat fish, crayfish, snails and bugs.
They hunt at night. They find food by smell and by feeling the water move.
Japanese giant salamanders are meat-eaters. They eat fish, insects, crayfish, snails and sometimes small mammals. They hunt at night, and because their eyesight is poor, they find food by smell and by feeling tiny movements in the water.
Their mouths are full of tiny teeth and their heads are strong, so prey rarely escapes. Their bodies use energy very slowly, so they can go weeks without eating if they have to.
The diet includes fish, insects, crayfish, snails and small mammals (Smithsonian's National Zoo). With small eyes and poor eyesight, the salamander relies on smell and on water vibrations; the bumps on its skin, mostly around the head, are external sensory organs that work much like the lateral line of fish.
Prey is seized in a mouth lined with tiny teeth, backed by the jaw pressure of a muscular head. A very slow metabolism lets it go weeks without food. The IUCN notes that concreting river banks reduces the biomass and diversity of prey, one way river engineering harms the species.
Did you know?
Some giant salamanders have lived for more than 50 years.
Scientists have followed some Japanese giant salamanders for about 40 years, and they were already adults when first found.
Individuals tracked for around 40 years were adults when first recorded, so they were at least 50 to 60 years old; the IUCN suspects lifespans of 100 years or more.
Breathing through its skin
This salamander breathes mostly through its skin!
Its skin is full of wrinkles and folds. The folds help it take in air from the cool river water.
The Japanese giant salamander breathes mostly through its skin. Oxygen from the water passes in through the skin, and carbon dioxide passes out. The wrinkles and flaps of skin along its sides give it more surface for breathing.
It does have a lung, but it uses it mainly to float higher or sink lower in the water. That is why it needs cold, fast-flowing water, which carries plenty of oxygen. Giant salamanders can also regrow damaged skin and even bone.
Gas exchange happens mainly across the skin, and the wrinkles and lateral skin flaps increase the respiratory surface. The single lung serves mostly for buoyancy control rather than breathing (Smithsonian's National Zoo). Dependence on skin respiration ties the species to cold, well-oxygenated, fast-flowing water, and sedimentation that lowers oxygen supply is one of the threats the National Zoo lists.
Other features: sensory bumps around the head that detect water movement, small eyes, a mouth with many small teeth, a peppery-smelling defensive mucus that may be toxic to predators, and strong regenerative ability, including regrowth of skin and bone.
Den masters and long lives
In late summer, giant salamanders find a den in the riverbank.
The mothers lay long strings of eggs. Then the father stays and guards the eggs and babies for months. Giant salamanders grow up very slowly.
From August to October, giant salamanders travel upriver to underwater dens dug into the riverbank. The biggest male takes over a den and defends it, and several females may come in to lay strings of eggs, typically 400 to 600 each.
The females then leave, and the male, sometimes called the den master, guards the eggs. They hatch after 40 to 60 days, and he keeps watching over the larvae until the next spring, up to about seven months. Larvae take 4 to 6 years to change into juveniles.
Breeding runs from August to October. Adults move upriver to nest dens, burrows 100 to 150 centimeters long with a single underwater entrance; a large dominant male occupies and defends a den, and several females may spawn there, each laying a string of typically 400 to 600 eggs (Smithsonian's National Zoo). Incubation takes 40 to 60 days. The IUCN notes that males care for eggs and larvae until the following spring, up to seven months; Cryptobranchidae and Sirenidae are the only two of ten salamander families known for male parental care.
Development is slow: 4 to 6 years to metamorphosis, and about another 10 years before juveniles join breeding, though in good conditions a hatchling may breed within 10 years. Individuals have been tracked for about 40 years after being found as adults, so they were at least 50 to 60; the IUCN suspects lifespans of 100 years or more.
Quiet life in the river
Giant salamanders sleep in the day and come out at night.
Most of the time each one lives alone, in its own part of the river.
Japanese giant salamanders are active at night. In the daytime they hide under large rocks or in holes along the riverbank, out of sight.
They mostly live alone and stay in the same part of the river for a long time. Males and females have home areas that overlap, and they only gather together in the breeding season, when they meet at nest dens in late summer.
Nocturnal and largely sedentary, adults spend the day concealed under large rocks or in bank burrows and crevices. Males and females have overlapping home ranges and are solitary except during the breeding season, when both sexes gather at underwater nest sites in August and September (Smithsonian's National Zoo).
Because breeding requires migration upriver to suitable dens and tributaries, barriers matter: the IUCN reports that dams, flood-control works and concrete banks may block young adults from reaching smaller tributaries, and Asa Zoo in Hiroshima has built "salamander ladders" in streams affected by dams.
Did you know?
Its name in Japan means big pepper fish!
When it is upset, it makes a sticky white slime that smells like Japanese pepper, which gave it a Japanese name meaning "big pepper fish."
Its stress secretion, a sticky white mucus that may be toxic to predators, smells like Japanese pepper; one of its Japanese names translates as "big pepper fish."
Protecting a living treasure
Japan protects its giant salamanders by law.
They need clean, natural rivers. Zoos and scientists are helping to keep them safe.
The IUCN lists the Japanese giant salamander as Vulnerable. Many rivers in Japan were changed by dams and concrete banks, especially between 1955 and 1973, which left fewer places for salamanders to nest. Chinese giant salamanders, brought to Japan by people, also breed with the native ones.
Japan has protected the species since 1952 and calls it a special natural monument. Asa Zoo in Hiroshima has bred these salamanders since 1979, rescues animals from damaged rivers and builds salamander ladders around dams.
The IUCN assessed the species as Vulnerable (A2ce; assessed April 2021, published 2022), estimating a 30 to 50 percent decline, possibly more, over three generations (1931 to 2021, using a 30-year generation). The steepest losses came during Japan's economic boom (1955 to 1973), when dams and concrete banking reshaped most rivers. Adults are still not hard to find, but larvae and nests are, and that shortage of young suggests future collapses at many sites.
Hybridization with introduced Chinese giant salamanders (Andrias davidianus and A. sligoi) has likely gone on for generations, probably mostly by backcrossing to Japanese females, making hybrids hard to identify by sight; low genetic diversity adds risk. The species has been legally protected since 1952, is a special natural monument and is on CITES Appendix I; Asa Zoo has bred it since 1979 and sent animals to conservation programs at zoos in the United States.
IUCN Red List
How is the japanese giant salamander doing in the wild?
- Least Concern
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable (this animal)
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Vulnerable
At high risk of disappearing from the wild.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2
Amazing facts
-
In this salamander family, the dads take care of the eggs.
Japanese giant salamander fathers guard their eggs and young for up to about seven months, until the following spring.
Male parental care is known in only two of the ten salamander families, the Cryptobranchidae and the Sirenidae, which makes the den-guarding males of Andrias japonicus unusual.
-
Its name in Japan means big pepper fish!
When it is upset, it makes a sticky white slime that smells like Japanese pepper, which gave it a Japanese name meaning "big pepper fish."
Its stress secretion, a sticky white mucus that may be toxic to predators, smells like Japanese pepper; one of its Japanese names translates as "big pepper fish."
-
It breathes mostly through its skin.
Its lung is used mostly for floating, not breathing. Oxygen comes in through its wrinkly skin.
Most gas exchange is cutaneous; the single lung serves mainly for buoyancy control.
-
Some giant salamanders have lived for more than 50 years.
Scientists have followed some Japanese giant salamanders for about 40 years, and they were already adults when first found.
Individuals tracked for around 40 years were adults when first recorded, so they were at least 50 to 60 years old; the IUCN suspects lifespans of 100 years or more.
Words to know
- amphibian
- an animal such as a frog or salamander that usually starts life in water
- endemic
- found naturally in only one place in the world
- larva
- the young stage of an animal that looks different from the adult
- hybrid
- the young of parents from two different species
- den
- a hidden home or nest, like a burrow in a riverbank
- nocturnal
- active at night
Discovery challenge
-
Who guards the giant salamander eggs?
Which parent guards Japanese giant salamander eggs and larvae?
Which parent provides care in Andrias japonicus?
- The father
- The mother
- Nobody
Show the answer
The father
The dad stays and guards the eggs and babies.
The male, the den master, guards the eggs and then the larvae until the next spring.
Males guard eggs and larvae for up to seven months; male care is known in only two salamander families.
-
How does this salamander mostly breathe?
How does a Japanese giant salamander get most of its oxygen?
What is the main respiratory surface of an adult Japanese giant salamander?
- Through its skin
- Through a blowhole
- Through feathery gills
Show the answer
Through its skin
It breathes through its wrinkly skin.
Oxygen passes in through its skin; the wrinkles and folds give it more surface.
The skin; wrinkles and lateral folds increase the area, and the lung mainly controls buoyancy.
-
Where does it live?
Where do Japanese giant salamanders live in the wild?
Which describes the wild range of Andrias japonicus?
- In deserts in Africa
- In rivers in Japan
- On sea ice in the Arctic
Show the answer
In rivers in Japan
It lives in rivers in Japan.
It lives only in Japan, in clear rivers in the western part of the country.
Endemic to Japan: rivers of western Honshu and parts of Shikoku and Kyushu, 30 to 1,000 meters.
-
How long can a giant salamander live?
Which is closest to how long a Japanese giant salamander can live?
Which lifespan fits what is known about Japanese giant salamanders?
- About one year
- More than 70 years
- About one month
Show the answer
More than 70 years
They can live for a very long time, more than 70 years!
The Smithsonian's National Zoo says they can live more than 70 years.
More than 70 years (National Zoo); tracked adults were at least 50 to 60, and the IUCN suspects 100 or more.
Places where you might see it
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe how the Japanese giant salamander breathes and senses its surroundings in a river.
- Explain male parental care and the species' very slow life history.
- Locate the species' range in western Japan.
- Explain how dams, concrete riverbanks and introduced relatives threaten it.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why would an animal that breathes through its skin need cold, fast-flowing water?
- How might a concrete riverbank change life for animals that nest in the bank?
- Why can introducing an animal from another country cause problems for a native species?
Try at home or in class
- Measure 1.5 meters along the floor with tape and lie down next to it: is a giant salamander longer or shorter than you?
- Crumple a sheet of paper and then flatten it out: compare how much space a flat sheet and a wrinkled sheet take up, and talk about why wrinkles add skin surface.
Key vocabulary: amphibian, endemic, larva, hybrid, den, nocturnal
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
- Andrias japonicus (Japanese Giant Salamander), IUCN Red List assessment 2022 , IUCN
- Japanese giant salamander , Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.