 In temperate regions , reproduction is usually seasonal and salamanders may migrate to breeding grounds . Males usually arrive first and in some instances set up territories . Typically , a larval stage follows in which the organism is fully aquatic . The tadpole has three pairs of external gills , no eyelids , a long body , a laterally flattened tail with dorsal and ventral fins and in some species limb @-@ buds or limbs . Pond @-@ type larvae may have a pair of rod @-@ like balancers on either side of the head , long gill filaments and broad fins . Stream @-@ type larvae are more slender with short gill filaments , narrower fins and no balancers , but instead have hind limbs already developed when they hatch . The tadpoles are carnivorous and the larval stage may last from days to years , depending on species . Sometimes this stage is completely bypassed , and the eggs of most lungless salamanders ( Plethodontidae ) develop directly into miniature versions of the adult without an intervening larval stage . 
