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The Eastern Redspotted Newt (aka Eastern Newt, Redspotted Newt, Green Newt, or Red Eft) attains a maximum length of 5 inches (13 cm) . Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this newt is that newly metamorphosed individuals and older adults are completely diferent in appearance and habitat.
For about a year after its metamorphosis (from larva or "tadpole" to adult proportions) this newt is reddish-orange in color and is known as a red eft. It leaves its natal pond for nearby woodland or other dry ground. At this time it is 2-3 inches (5-7 cm) long, about the size of a fire-belly. Captive specimens should be given an aquaterrarium that is mostly dry ground, with a little bit of water for drinking and occasional swimming.
The young newt then returns to water. I wrote before that "if the experiments of Victor Chandler Twitty with Taricha species can be applied to redspotteds, the eft probably uses a homing instinct to return to the particular pond where it grew up." It turns out that N. viridescens efts use two biological compasses to find their natal pond: a light-dependent magnetic compass and an intensity detector sensitive to the polarity of the magnetic field. See Phillips and Borland.
More detailed information about the Redspotted newt and its life cycle can be found in my evolution paper.
Upon returning, it will begin to take on its adult coloration, which is a green body with yellow underside, and a row of black-ringed red spots along each side of the backbone. These spots are also present in young animals. There is also a black horizontal stripe through the eye.
There are a few other newts that go by the name Notophthalmus viridescens. If the coloration of the newt is very dark (not to be confused with a redspotted that hasn't completed its color transformation), it is called a central newt. The red spots of the broken-lined newt run together to form a broken line, and there is a similar form with a complete line. There is also a form with no spots. The adult newt is considerably more aquatic than the eft. In captivity, about 50% of the available surface should be water, though if the newts have very wet ground (so that they can be almost completely submerged while on the substrate), they will spend most of their time on this type of ground. My newt, Fructidor, is so accustomed to having this arrangement (he has a floating island that sinks slightly under his weight) that when I put him in a tank with deep water and dry land as the only choices, he sat with half his body in the water. I've also seen him climb up the side of the tank so that he's partially dry.
An important caveat if you're considering buying a Redspotted newt is that they're very susceptible to at least one parasite. Very often they will refuse to eat for weeks or months before dying of starvation. This is of course not true of all redspotteds, but I've heard of more emaciated redspotteds than any other commonly kept newt. Consider yourself warned.
