Caecilians

Frogs, toads, newts and salamanders are

all familiar types of amphibians. You can find
some of these amphibians in your own
backyard or the local park, especially if there’s some kind of water at the park. Have
your ever heard of a type of amphibian called a caecilian before? You probably
aren’t at all familiar with these creatures because of their habitat; they live
underground all the time.
There aren’t any caecilians in the United States because they only live in
tropical and subtropical climates. Caecilians can mainly be found throughout
Central America and the warmest parts of South America. They also inhabit the
southern tip of Asia and the islands between Asia and Australia, as well as some
coastal areas of tropical Africa.
Caecilians are burrowing amphibians that look a lot like worms; caecilians
don’t have legs. There’s a major difference between worms and caecilians. Worms
are invertebrates, which means they don’t have bones and, like all other
amphibians, caecilians are vertebrates which means they do have bones. The
skeleton of a caecilian is designed for moving underground through the soil. Their
skull is pointed and their jaw and mouth is low so the head can push through soil to
create a tunnel. Caecilians travel through tunnels that they make instead of always
burrowing and they eat mostly earthworms, which also live underground. Some
species of caecilians live technically above ground but burrow into the leaf litter on
the forest floor or into rotten logs.
Because they live underground, the skin of caecilians is mixed shades of
browns, grays and blacks. Like other amphibians, the skin of caecilians exudes
poisons. A few caecilian species have some color to their skin, for example, a bright
yellow stripe. Biologists think that these species might be the most poisonous
caecilians but cannot prove it. Coral snakes are the main predator of caecilians.
All amphibians have a complex life cycle that includes several stages, each
stage with a different type of body. Biologists have not carefully studied the life cycle
of caecilians but they do know that the eggs hatch into larvae that have gills. There
are only 156 known species of caecilians; the largest known caecilian grows to five
feet in length.

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