Greek for "Fire-Lizard"

Eastern Newt - Notophthalmus viridescens

The eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) is a common salamander of eastern North America.

Emilie found this little Eft floating in our pool this afternoon, see picture above. This is an Eastern Newt, also known as the Red-spotted Newt. We scooped him out, checked him out and took some pictures. This isn't the first time I've come across one of these little nickers in our pool. Several years ago I came across one in much the same way that Emilie did today.

There are three stages to the Eastern Newt's life, one being the "eft" stage, which is what we caught The eft is found on land and is bright orangish-red or reddish-brown. It grows to over three inches. The eft stage has poisonous chemicals in its skin so predators will not eat them.

Newts and Salamanders Folklore:

• Newts and salamander have been associated with evil and mischief. Salamanders have been linked to fire as far back as the times of Aristotle. The word salamander is of Greek origin, and translates roughly to "Fire-Lizard". It was believed that salamanders were immune to fire, and could extinguish fire with skin secretions. Although not proven indefinitely, it is believed that the correlation of salamanders to fire originated upon seeing salamanders flee from bonfires and fire pits when collected wood was set ablaze. Because salamanders inhabit cool, damp places, they may have been inadvertently taken home in collected fire wood. When the wood was kindled, the salamanders would attempt to flee to safety.
• Salamanders and newts were also used for medicinal purposes. They were often burned to ashes, which were collected and used in medicinal formulas and concoctions.
• The saliva of a salamander was believed to make hair fall out.
• Even today, the skins, bodies, and body parts of salamanders are used in traditional medicine.
• Torched newts are sometimes sold in Asia as aphrodisiacs, and the skins of certain species are said to cure illnesses.
• Salamanders and newts were also negatively associated with cows. It was believed that salamanders or newts would suckle cows if they were caught laying down, resulting in the cows inability to produce milk from that point forward. The origin of this myth is though to come from sightings of dead newts and salamanders who might have released their milky fluid upon being squashed by an oblivious cow.