Consumed as a delicacy, the Chinese giant salamander is critically endangered

This species is considered to be a ‘living fossil’ having seen the dinosaurs come and go and is itself critically endangered as its meat is acclaimed as a delicacy and also used in traditional Chinese medicine.

It’s a “living fossil”, for being a part of the family Cryptobranchidae which dates back 170 million years and it is currently the largest amphibian on the planet. It can grow to the size of an adult human! The Japanese giant salamander is a bit smaller than its Chinese counterpart, while North America’s largest salamander, the hellbender, may reach 28 inches (70 centimetres) in length. These three giants make up the family Cryptobranchidae.

Fully aquatic it is endemic to the mountain streams and lakes in the Yangtze river basin of China. The Chinese giant salamander is a ‘flagship’ species for China’s freshwater river systems. It is extensively farmed but most of the breeding stock are either wild-caught or first-generation captive-bred.

Revered by the Chinese for thousands of years, and later feared and avoided, its luck ran out in the 1970s when a market grew for “exotic” giant salamander meat, accompanied by an uptick for use in traditional remedies. This led to thousands of Chinese giant salamander farms cropping up around the country—and some salamanders sell for more than $1,500 each!

These amphibians spend their entire lives underwater, yet they do not have gills—they absorb oxygen through their porous skin. Their tiny eyes aren’t much help, and instead they detect prey by sensing their vibrations in the water. Sensory nodes run along the sides of the Chinese giant salamander’s body from head to tail, enabling it to detect prey.