Animalia > Chordata > Amphibia > Caudata > Cryptobranchidae > Andrias > Andrias japonicus

Andrias japonicus (Japanese giant salamander)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

The Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus) is endemic to Japan, where it is known as Ōsanshōuo (オオサンショウウオ/大山椒魚), literally meaning "giant pepper fish". With a length of up to almost 1.5 m (5 ft), it is the second-largest salamander in the world, only being surpassed by the very similar and closely related Chinese giant salamander (A. davidianus). There are only three known members of the Cryptobranchidae family: the Japanese and Chinese giant salamanders and the Eastern hellbender.
View Wikipedia Record: Andrias japonicus

Endangered Species

Status: Vulnerable
View IUCN Record: Andrias japonicus

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
43
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
68
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 83.42
EDGE Score: 5.13
View EDGE Record: Andrias japonicus

Attributes

Adult Length [2]  4.461 feet (136 cm)
Gestation [3]  60 days
Litter Size [3]  500
Litters / Year [2]  1
Maximum Longevity [3]  55 years
Nocturnal [1]  Yes
Water Biome [1]  Rivers and Streams
Adult Weight [2]  57.32 lbs (26.00 kg)
Diet [1]  Carnivore
Female Maturity [3]  5 years
Male Maturity [3]  5 years

Ecoregions

Name Countries Ecozone Biome Species Report Climate Land
Use
Nihonkai evergreen forests Japan Palearctic Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests    
Nihonkai montane deciduous forests Japan Palearctic Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests  
Taiheiyo evergreen forests Japan Palearctic Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests
Taiheiyo montane deciduous forests Japan Palearctic Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Japan Japan Yes

Prey / Diet

Pelophylax nigromaculatus (Dark-spotted Frog)[4]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Ciconia boyciana (Oriental Stork)1

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Amphibiocapillaria tritonispunctati[5]
Dioctophyme renale (giant kidney worm)[5]
Filaria cingulum <Unverified Name>[5]
Kamegainema cingulum <Unverified Name>[5]

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 2Oliveira, Brunno Freire; São-Pedro, Vinícius Avelar; Santos-Barrera, Georgina; Penone, Caterina; C. Costa, Gabriel. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Sci. Data.
♦ 3de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 4CHARACTERISTICS OF JAPANESE GIANT SALAMANDER (ANDRIAS JAPONICUS) POPULATIONS IN TWO SMALL TRIBUTARY STREAMS IN HIROSHIMA PREFECTURE, WESTERN HONSHU, JAPAN, SUMIO OKADA, TAEKO UTSUNOMIYA, TAMAMI OKADA, ZACHARY I. FELIX, AND FUMIHIKO ITO, Herpetological Conservation and Biology 3(2):192-202 (2008)
♦ 5Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0