Question: Regeneration of Gills

[Jenna]

Just out of curiosity, I wanted to ask if an axolotl with short stumpy gills has one bitten off, could it grow back nice and long if in the right conditions?

I ask because, I was looking through the pics earlier and I saw a comment about how a particular axolotl had nice long gills because it was kept in warmer water and fed well while it was growing. This made me think that if an axolotl with short, under developed gills like you might get from a dodgy pet shop had its gill's eaten by another, would they grow back long if in warmer water and well fed or would they just be stumpy again?

Please dont think that because I am asking the question I am considering cutting off the gills of my axolotls. I would/could never do that but I am just curious to know how the regeneration works. Do they grow back like the original or if given better conditions, grow back better?

[~~Eddie~~]

Although i am not an expert by any means, axolotls gill length is (as i understand it) mostly genetic and while conditions will help or hurt the regrowth of the gills, i do not believe that they should or would be much different then they were originally.

i have two axis atm, and one nipped the end off the others gill (moving really caused them a lot of stress this time :/ ) but it has begun to re grow i will let you know if it ends up significantly different then before

[Jason R Davis]

I too believe that genetics play the biggest roll in what your lotls gills will look like. To answer one of your questions about regrowth though, yes your lotls gill stalk will grow back after it being nipped off but it should resemble what the other healthy stalks look like before the nip.

As for the warm versus cold water, cold water holds more oxygen so it would stand to reason that if kept in sub 50 degree F water there gills may not need to develop as they would if kept in 70 degree F water.

It would be cool to find some twin or tripplet eggs and separate them out to try a small experiment.

This research has probably been done if you searched around for it, such as the affect of water temp on gill development in salamanders.

[Jenna]

I thought it was probably genetic but I wasn't sure if it was also conditions. I have some week old babies at the moment so I could split them up and see if there is a difference but there aren't any twins and I dont really have the space for them. I am keeping them in 22 degree celcius water and feeding them a few times a day so hopefully they all have long gills. Their parents dont have nice gills so I guess I will see if they follow after their parents or if the water conditions play a part.