Biting in the Salamander Siren intermedia intermedia: Courtship Component or Agonistic Behavior?

Abstract

In salamanders, biting serves three potential purposes: subduing prey (e.g., Reilly and Lauder, 1990), repelling competitors and predators (e.g., Jaeger, 1981; Brodie et al., 1989), and stimulating the opposite sex during courtship (Arnold, 1977). In Siren intermedia, nonpredatory biting was first reported by Gehlbach and Walker (1970), who observed it while recording underwater vocalizations. Bitten individuals often fled