Organisms in natural habitats participate in complex ecological interactions that include competition, predation, and foraging. Under natural aquatic environmental conditions, amphibian larvae can simultaneously receive multiple signals from conspecifics, predators, and prey, implying that predator-induced morphological defenses can occur in prey and that prey-induced offensive morphological traits may develop in predators. Although multiple adaptive plasticity, such as inducible defenses and inducible offensive traits, can be expected to have not only ecological but also evolutionary implications, few empirical studies report on species having such plasticity.The broad-headed larval morph of Hynobius retardatus, which is induced by crowding with heterospecific anuran (Rana pirica) larvae, is a representative example of prey-induced polyphenism. The morph is one of two distinct morphs that have been identified in this species; the other is the typical morph. Here, we report that typical larval morphs of Hynobius can respond rapidly to a predatory environment and show conspicuous predator-induced plasticity of larval tail depth, but that broad-headed morphs cannot respond similarly to a predation threat. Our findings support the hypothesis that induction or maintenance of adaptive plasticity (e.g., predator-induced polyphenism) trades off against other adaptive plastic responses (e.g., prey-induced polyphenism). For a species to retain both an ability to forage for larger prey and an ability to more effectively resist predation makes sense in light of the range of environments that many salamander larvae experience in nature. Our results suggest that the salamander larvae clearly discriminate between cues from prey and those from predators and accurately respond to each cue; that is, they adjust their phenotype to the current environment.

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Certain plastic morphological responses of animals induced across a range of environmental conditions may be adapted for effective locomotor performance. Larvae of the salamander, Hynobius retardatus, occasionally swim upward to the surface to breathe air because aquatic respiration alone is insufficient to meet their increasing respiratory requirements for growth. We hypothesized that H. retardatus larvae living in deep water would show an induced plastic response affecting locomotor structures, namely, a deeper tail, similar to that induced by predatory dragonfly larvae (Aeschna juncea), to improve their swimming performance. In this study, larval salamanders responded similarly to different cues (waterborne chemicals in a predatory environment and distance to the water's surface) by developing deeper tails. The similar modifications in tail shape presumably increase a larva's swimming performance, thereby improving its ability both to escape an attacking predator and to swim to the surface for air. The response in tail shape induced by the predatory environment was rapid, but was more gradual in larvae raised in deep water, suggesting that animals may quickly assess a dangerous environment and immediately respond, whereas assessment of an environment not requiring an immediate response for survival may be slower, accounting for the delayed response.