The Japanese black salamander (''Hynobius nigrescens'') is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae, endemic to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate grassland,

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, irrigated land, canals and ditches. When the larva goes through metamorphosis its gills and fins are replaced with lungs and legs. As the salamander grows, many of its muscles are shifted or are created in order to account for its size and weight.

References

Hynobius Endemic amphibians of Japan Amphibians described in 1907 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Leonhard Stejneger {{salamander-stub