Page "Amphibian" Paragraph 1

Amphibians are members of the class Amphibia, whose living forms include frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians.

They are cold-blooded, tetrapod vertebrates.

Most have four limbs and live in fresh water or on land but the caecilians, though included in the group, live in burrows in damp soil and are limbless.

Amphibians typically have a larval stage that lives in water but there are many different behavioural adaptations that have developed among species to bypass this necessity.

The young undergo metamorphosis from a larval form with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs.

Amphibians also use their skin for respiration and some small terrestrial salamanders rely entirely on this and have no lungs.