Amphiumas: Amphiumidae

Amphiumas live in an area that extends from southeastern Virginia southward along the coastal plain and throughout Florida, westward along the coastal plain and from southwestern Alabama and all of Mississippi and Louisiana to the easternmost part of Texas and most southeastern part of Oklahoma northward to the extreme southeastern portion of Missouri.

Amphiumas live in swamps, marshes, ditches, lakes, and sluggish streams. One species lives in watery muck. Amphiumas can be quite common in cities, where they live in waterways such as ditches and canals. Amphiumas may hide among water plants, but they prefer crayfish holes. In rainy weather amphiumas may crawl around on wet surfaces.

Amphiumas eat worms, water insects and their larvae, frogs, salamanders, fish, and any other small vertebrates. A favorite prey is crayfish.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists one species of amphiumas as Low Risk/Near Threatened, or at risk of becoming threatened with extinction in the future. Although human activity has destroyed much of the habitat of amphiumas, it also has increased habitat through the building of ponds, ditches, canals, lagoons, and lakes. Amphiumas can survive in waters with fish, and they may be major predators in some waters.