Crested Newts

Triturus cristatus

Info
size: 4-5in (10-12cm)
origin: western Europe
food: small invertebrates, and pellets
scientific name: Triturus cristatus
also known as: Crested Newt

People sometimes mistake these guys for big fire-bellies, which can be good because fire-bellies are much cheaper and a pet shop's misidentification can let you take one home for 4 or 5 dollars, when cresteds usually retail for twice that.

Female cresteds, and males out of the breeding season, are black on top and reddish on the bottom, which sounds like a description of a fire-belly. But such newt-savvy people as you and I can tell the difference. Fire-bellies are 2-3 inches long (5-8 cm), while cresteds are almost twice as big: 4-5 inches (10-12 cm). Their skin is also more granular, and their coloring a little different. Though solid orange like a fire-belly's is common, many cresteds have on their bellies a pattern of red and white dots, as in the pictures on this site. The black parts of their bodies are usually brownish, and they have pointed triangular snouts with prominent eyeballs.

There are other Triturus newts, including Triturus vulgaris, the European common newt, smooth newt, or pond newt; and Triturus alpestris, the Alpine newt with a bright orange underside bordered with purple. All are european newts whose males take on breeding dress.

There's no mistaking a Triturus male in breeding season, and the crested is particularly distinctive. Males of this genus grow tall, tadpole-like tails, with a fin -- in this case, a jagged crest -- along the back, with a separate, smoother tail crest. Most male newts exhibit some reshaping of the tail in breeding season, but few so dramatic as this.

Triturus newts (which include the Common European newt Triturus vulgaris and the strikingly colored Alpine Newt, Triturus alpestris) have an eft stage similar to that of the Redspotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens).