(Rafinesque, 1818) (mudpuppy)

Habitat: Clear lakes, rivers and streams, and some weedy, turbid and mud-banked streams. It lingers in shallow aquatic habitats under rocks and logs and swims deep in lakes on occasion. Primarily nocturnal, but is known to venture out during daytime in cloudy or sheltered water.
Life History: Females construct underwater nests and lay up to 100 eggs (average 48-60) during May and June.
Native Range: Sporadically distributed from the southeastern U.S. north to New York, Vermont and Quebec and west to North Dakota and Manitoba.
Nonindigenous Range: Established in Hampshire County (Massachusetts) near Amherst College; and Great Pond and Belgrade, Kennebec County (Maine).
Impacts: Unknown.
Comments: The New England populations are releases or escapes from college biology programs.

  (Boie, 1826) (Japanese fire-bellied salamander)

Habitat: Ponds, rice fields, swamps and streams; juveniles are more terrestrial and can be found under logs, rocks and leaf piles.
Life History: Up to 200 eggs are laid on aquatic plants during a breeding season; larvae metamorphose after 3 to 5 months.
Native Range: Japan.
Nonindigenous Range: Two specimens collected from Ward’s Pond, Plymouth County (Massachusetts) in 1932 and another collected in 1979 from Stoneham, Middlesex County (Massachusetts). 
Impacts: Apparently all introductions were escaped pets and did not become established, thus impacts are negligible.
Comments: A common pet requiring a mix of aquatic and terrestrial habitats, and eating aquatic insects and tadpoles.