[3] Onychodactylus fischeri is known to live at elevations up to 1000 m, and favors thickly-vegetated stretches of pebble-bottomed mountain streams, with little direct sunlight.

The eggs are laid in streams; the aquatic larvae emerge after approximately 5 weeks.

It is threatened by habitat change, such as tree felling in stream headwaters.

The skin is smooth overall, but with one groove running along the center of the back.

The tail is longer than the head and body combined, a fact from which the salamander takes its common name.