The salamander is a medium-sized urodelo amphibian that usually does not exceed 23 cm in total length. The appearance of the salamander is unmistakable. It has smooth black skin with very striking yellow spots. This aposematic coloration is a warning to its predators of its poisonous nature and although for man the exuding fluid is only irritating in contact with mucous membranes, it is advisable not to touch them. Sexual dimorphism is not very marked, although males are more stylised, have a longer tail and during the breeding season have a bulging cloacal area.

Unlike other amphibians, salamanders do not have the development from the egg phase in the water, but the eggs hatch inside the mother and there the embryos grow until they get enough size to be able to swim and feed themselves. At that time, the females approach the streams or ponds and there release the small larvae that begin their aquatic life alone, feeding on small crustaceans and aquatic insects. When they complete their larval development, they leave the water and are transformed, through the process of metamorphosis, to live on land.

Salamanders have a very wide distribution throughout much of the Western Palaearctic region. However, some groups have been isolated for thousands or even millions of years by geological, climatic and ecological changes. This is the case of the Andalusian salamander or longirostris, whose distribution in the world is limited to the south of Andalusia, far from the populations of Sierra Morena.

Although years ago it was widely distributed in the provinces of Cadiz, Malaga, southern Cordoba and eastern Granada, in recent decades, populations have been disappearing due to the transformations that man has made in the environment (agricultural crops, constructions, etc.) and have been relegated only to the sierras of Cádiz and Málaga. For this reason it is very important to conserve the places where it lives, which are streams and ponds with clean water and the environment surrounding these aquatic environments, with natural vegetation that maintains humidity.