News | February 3, 2025

A rare southern salamander gets a shot at survival

The Berry Cave salamander is one of Tennessee’s most unique and rarest species. (Matthew Niemiller)

With pink, feathery gills and an oar-like tail, the Berry Cave salamander is one of Tennessee’s most unique species. It’s also one of the rarest – the salamander is found in just a handful of isolated caves in East Tennessee, and in several of these caves only one salamander has ever been observed.  

Last year, we sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help protect these special salamanders from extinction and recently reached an agreement that requires the agency to reconsider listing the species under the Endangered Species Act. 

Berry Cave salamanders are under immense pressure from East Tennessee’s unprecedented growth. They are extremely sensitive to water quality, and pollution caused by the area’s rapid development threatens their ability to survive. More than half of the caves where Berry Cave salamanders have been found are in Knox County, the second-fastest growing county in the state.   

The Berry Cave salamander is found nowhere else on earth, and its populations are dwindling in the face of rapid development and a changing climate.

Liz Rasheed, staff attorney

Even the largest observed populations of the Berry Cave salamander are quickly declining. Survey results indicate that a population found in Knoxville’s Meads Quarry Cave — historically one of the salamander’s relative strongholds — has fallen by more than 60 percent since the early 2000s 

The rare Berry Cave salamander has pink, feathery gills and an oar-like tail. (Matthew Niemiller)

Despite dwindling population numbers and an obvious need for protections, the Fish and Wildlife Service recklessly removed the Berry Cave salamander as a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2019. The surprising decision contradicted earlier determinations by the agency that found the salamander warranted protection.  

The Fish and Wildlife Service’s denial came at a time when the agency’s prior regional leadership had directed staff to implement a quota system that set annual targets for denying species protections. This quota may have inappropriately influenced the Berry Cave salamander decision.  

“This agreement is an important step toward securing long-overdue protections for the Berry Cave salamander and correcting a harmful mistake from the Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Liz Rasheed, a staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “We hope the agency will follow the science — as required by law — and give these one-of-a-kind salamanders the protections they need to have a shot at survival.”    

Meet the salamanders making the South a biodiversity hotspot