Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Amphibia

Order: Urodela

Family: Cryptobranchidae

Genus: Cryptobranchus

Species: C. alleganiensis

Specimen Description

The tongue of an adult salamander is relatively broad and pad like, tightly attached to the floor of the mouth, with only part of the margin of the tongue free. Consequently the capacity of the projection is limited, With little projection beyond the tip of the snout. Although the tongue is used to seize the prey, aquatic salamanders are not well adapted to capture prey from a a long distance or a fast moving prey. In an Aquatic salamander larva the tongue is not involved in the prey capture at all. But their terrestrial cousin have much greater projection length up to 20 % of snout-vent length and more effective in capturing the prey.

Reference:

Wells D. Kentwood,  The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians, University of Chicago Press.

http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cryptobranchus_alleganiensis