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Salamander: Fire Salamander
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The Fire Salamander (Salamandra salamandra) is probably the most well-known salamander species in Europe. It is black and has different kinds of yellow spots or stripes. Individual salamanders can be nearly completely black while on others the yellow is dominant. Shades of red and orange may sometimes appear. They either mix with the yellow, or replace it completely. This depends on the subspecies.
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Isidore of Seville- "The Salamander is so called because it is strong against fire; and amid all poisons its power is the greatest. For other {poisonous animals} strike individuals; this slays very many at the same time; for if it crawls up a tree, it infects all the fruit with poison and slays those who eat it...It fights against fires, and alone among living things, extinguishes them. For it lives in the midst of flames without pain and without being consumed, and not only is it not burned, but it puts the fire out." (Brehaut, 1912)
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Numerous legends have developed around the salamander over the centuries, many related to fire. This connection likely originates from the tendency of many salamanders to dwell inside rotting logs. When placed into a fire, the salamander would attempt to escape from the log, lending to the belief that the salamander was created from flames. Associations of the salamander with fire appear in the Talmud and the Hadith, as well as in the writings of Conrad Lycosthenes, Benvenuto Cellini, Ray Bradbury, David Weber, Paracelsus and Leonardo da Vinci.
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When the salamander senses danger, it can secrete this through its skin. This alkaloid causes strong muscle convulsions and high-blood pressure combined with hyperventilation in all vertebrates. The poison glands of the Fire salamander are concentrated in certain areas of the body, especially around the head and the dorsal skin surface. The colored portions of the animals skin usually coincide with these glands. Most of these secretions might be effective against bacterial and fungal infections of the epidermis, but some secretions could ... be dangerous to human life.
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The spotted salamander of the symbolists taxed the imagination. Its alleged resistance to fire was such that it lived in volcanoes. Pliny believed its body was cold enough to extinguish flames. Its spittle was so poisonous that a man's hair would fall off his body at its touch. Even this creature's presence was believed to poison wells and orchards.
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The salamander commonly is illustrated as a lizard in or moving through a fire. The effect of the salamander's poison is ... commonly illustrated. Kongelige Bibliotek, Gl. kgl. S. 1633 4ยบ (f. 55v) shows a large salamander, with its tail in a fire, poisoning an apple tree; a dying man, holding an apple, lies on the ground below.
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Fire Salamander