1 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Peaceful, but needs cool water and a land area.
This one is best kept on its own, or with its own kind.
Peaceful, but needs cool water and a land area.
Check your local laws. US: genus Ichthyosaura is listed as injurious under the Lacey Act (Bsal rule). Europe: protected by national laws in its range countries and on Bern Convention Appendix III like all European amphibians; buy only legal captive-bred stock. Check the rules where you live before you buy one, and never release it into the wild.
Good to know: Needs a land area during the terrestrial phase.
Bloodworms, daphnia and small worms.
Tap a food to see what it is.
Males are smaller and, in water, show a low smooth-edged crest, a white band with black spots and a light-blue flash along the flanks, and a swollen cloaca; females are 1-2 cm longer, drabber and mottled.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Egg-layer · Moderate
Enters water at snowmelt (from February in lowlands to June high up); eggs are laid a few months later, through to August, usually folded singly into leaves of water plants.
Group of 4-6.
Cool tank with land.
Winter cooling and spring.
70-390 eggs per season, 1.5-1.7 mm; larvae hatch after 2-4 weeks and metamorphose after about 3 months.
Larvae eat daphnia and baby brine shrimp.
A European newt that lives on land most of the year and enters ponds at snowmelt to breed; breeding males are dark blue-grey with an orange belly and throat.
Josephus Laurenti described the alpine newt in 1768. It lives in cool waters across central Europe, up to high mountain lakes. Males develop bright blue colours in the breeding season.
First described by Josephus N. Laurenti in 1768.
10 facts checked with sources
Amphibian (newt), not a fish. Formerly Triturus / Mesotriton alpestris. Since 2022 the Italian (I. apuana) and Balkan/Greek (I. reiseri, I. veluchiensis) forms are separate species, so captive 'alpine newts' of Italian or Balkan origin may now be another species.
Amphibian Species of the World (AMNH): Ichthyosaura alpestrisNew value. Subfamily Pleurodelinae.
Wikipedia: Alpine newtTotal length 7-12 cm; legacy 11 cm fits (females larger).
Wikipedia: Alpine newtLegacy 10-15. Captive records 15-20 years; wild high-altitude animals up to 30 (Wikipedia citing published handbooks).
Wikipedia: Alpine newtNew value. Described from the Ötscher, Austrian Alps (Wikipedia). IUCN Least Concern.
Amphibian Species of the World (AMNH): Ichthyosaura alpestrisLegacy agrees.
Wikipedia: Alpine newtLegacy 'eggs laid on plants in spring' agrees; egg-laying can run into summer. Second quote is truncated in the fetched text ('Augu[st]').
Wikipedia: Alpine newtLegacy 100-250.
Wikipedia: Alpine newtLegacy agrees. Wikipedia notes Bsal was lethal to alpine newts in lab experiments.
Wikipedia: Alpine newtUS Lacey Act injurious-wildlife listing (interim rule effective 28 Jan 2016, affirmed as final in Jan 2025, when 16 more genera were added): import into the US and shipment between the jurisdictions covered by the statute (continental US, DC, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, territories) are prohibited without a permit; eggs/gametes are exempt and sale/possession within a state is not affected. The 2016 notice also banned interstate transport within the continental US, but the 2025 rule says it does not prohibit transport between states within the continental US (following the 2017 court ruling). The Bern quote is from the smooth newt article and refers to 'all amphibians'. No fetched source shows the alpine newt on the EU Habitats Directive annexes; legacy 'protected in several European countries' is plausible but national laws were not checked one by one.
USFWS: List of Salamander Species Designated as Injurious (effective 2016) · USFWS final rule + second interim rule, Federal Register 10 Jan 2025 (FR Doc. 2024-31203): Listing Salamanders Due to Risk of Salamander Chytrid Fungus · Wikipedia: Smooth newt