Like the Santa Lucia Mountains Slender Salamander, this is another species recently split out from the older species Batrachoseps pacificus. We ran across this one while looking for the extremely rare Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander.

I am not certain why the scientific name for this salamander is spelled with a "v" but the common name is spelled with a "b". A reader suggests that the Gabilan range was named after the Spanish name Gavilan but the spelling error crept in due to a misunderstanding caused by the pronunciation of "v" in Spanish, which sounds like "b".

I see these salamanders fairly often (though not as often as Batrachoseps luciae, which I find in my backyard and all around my neighborhood). But I hadn't taken any photos of them for years so I decided it was time.

This salamander and some friends hung out under small hunks of driftwood that had apparently washed up into vegetation above the standard tidal zone. I was very surprised to see them in this habitat so close to the ocean.