Ambystoma opacum

With its unmistakable striped colour, the Ambystoma opacum is present in south-eastern USA. It’s about 11 cm long, spending, like similar species, most of its life underground. Matings occur in autumn with massive migrations of individuals that come out. The females lay the eggs on the ground in a sort of nest in protected and strategic sites, like the dry bed of old pools of water, place that with the winter rains will transform in ephemeral ponds, without fish and hence with no predators. The nests are often watched for long time by the females which hence display a sort of parental cares but reproduction is strictly linked to the rains. The eggs laid in October unluckily will die in December if the place is not flooded © Giuseppe Mazza