Red spotted newt, Eastern newt... Same thing.
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The adults are aquatic, although they can also live on land. The larvae are gilled and aquatic. The larvae transform into a terrestrial form, which is known as the red eft. The red eft lives on land for a couple of years before returning to the water to breed. Red-spotted newts are one of several species of eastern newts, genus Notophthalmus. The eastern newts, despite sharing the same continent as the western newts (genus Taricha) are actually more closely related to the European newts (genus Triturus) than to the western newts. The western newts are in turn more closely related to the Asiatic newts of the genus Cynops.