A young larva, with hind leg buds just barely visible. Marbleds often share breeding pools with much larger salamanders (Spotteds in the case of this colony), so they use a unique breeding strategy. Instead of laying eggs in the water in spring, they wait until the end of summer when the pool is dried out and lay eggs on the dry pool bed, which hatch when autumn rains come. The larvae are able to grow through the winter, thus gaining enough size to avoid predation when the larger Ambystomatid salamanders hatch the following spring.