The Caucasian salamander lives along the banks of mountain brooks and small rivers with fast currents, both in the forest belt and above timberline, up to about 2400 m above sea level.

[10][11] Sexual dimorphism is expressed by presence of a horn-like protuberance at the upper side of the male's tail, a characteristic recorded only in this species and Luschan's salamander; for this reason, these two species were, for a long time, unified in the same genus, Mertensiella.

[12] The two species have also been compared in terms of their anatomical similarities with the Caucasian salamander having a smaller skull and a short scapula.

[17] Within the current range of the species, two evolutionary lineages are fully separated since the Pliocene: one from the Black Sea Basin, and another from Borjomi Gorge in Central Georgia, in spite of the absence of clear natural boundaries between these two areas.

The most important factor affecting it is habitat loss, caused by extensive logging in Georgia and construction works in Turkey.