Once common in cultivated areas but now endangered by use of chemicals. Males are brighter, have a crest from the head to the tip of the tail and are usually larger. Females only have a narrow crest along the tail. In colouring these newts appear much like the other Triturus species. Breeding takes place between April and June, after which the newts leave the water and spend the rest of the year on dry land.
Hibernation often takes place in large groups.
Neoteny is quite common in the Smooth Newt, with some populations never leaving the water. It seems both were once the same species but evolved separately after geographical separation during the ice ages. Preferred habitat is warm still water over a muddy bottom, but pools of spring water up to 2,000 m. high may also be used. Males have only a fin-like border on the tail, as opposed to the usual dorsal crest, but are larger than the females and the tip of their tail ends in a filament up to 8mm long. There are prominent ridges along the newts' backs which make it somewhat square in cross-section, and the skin is rough.