How do salamanders avoid chemicals left by snake and fish predators?

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A fluffy gray cat clings to the trunk of a tree, looking upward as it climbs to escape. — Avoidance behaviour Cat fleeing by upward climbing.

Salamanders utilize chemoreception to detect chemical cues left by predators, which triggers specific avoidance behaviour. When they encounter substrates tainted by chemicals deposited by snakes, they move away from those areas. Similarly, salamanders will move out of water that contains chemical cues from fish predators.1

While the exact mechanisms of how these chemicals are detected remain largely unknown, this sensitivity serves as a vital survival strategy, allowing the animals to identify and escape environments where predators have been present.1