I always thought it was amazing.
those green newts in a pond - if you had a good look at them were absolute beasts pound for pound. They would attack competitor males, and voraciously go to town on daphnia, insect larvae, etc.
If they were the size of crocs or bigger they would be brutal, dangerous killing machines, covered in neurotoxin, and an apex predator.
They lay their eggs, the little tadpoles lose their gills and turn into inch long orange salamanders over a few months, with a harsh natural selection weeding out like 98.87% of them, and go off with a built in biological polarity and solar based magnetoreception GPS system.
If something wants to brave the neurotoxin despite their warning colors, and rips off a limb or piece of tail, it will regenerate it. Otherwise they go around eating bugs, snails, worms, etc.
Then years later return to the water and and transform into newts and start the cycle over.
If the eastern newt was, say 30ft long like a Prionosuchus, let alone bigger-
Image them on land with no predators due to size and neurotoxins, regenerating injuries, doing this to your dog, sheep, etc,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOIBL33Kl4I
Then every river and lake being filled with these while your kids try to swim, etc-
If you have seen them strike prey in the water at their tiny size it would be crazy at a huge size.