The head is rounded with huge, dark soulful-looking eyes. Colour patterns are so variable across some of the subspecies that they may soon, once again, be designated distinct species.
All species possess a pale white or yellow belly.
The Ensatina is distributed along the Pacific Coast of North America, from central California, Oregon and Washington to southern British Colombia. Extensive and relict populations exist in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Its favourite habitats are the cool, humid maple, redwood, oak, cedar and pine forests along coastal regions, in valleys and up to an elevation of 12,000 feet. It is regularly found on the verges of slow flowing streams and rivers and loves skulking about in damp leaves and grasses in search of invertebrates. Extremely secretive in disposition, it possesses several defensive mechanisms.