Ambystoma opacum eggs hatching!

Greatwtehunter

Greatwtehunter

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Justin
Well I thought I would give making a short movie clip a try. Alright, so on Saturday I decided to hatch out my Ambystoma opacum eggs. Now a little background first for those who may not about their lifestyle. Opacums breed in the fall and lay their eggs under logs and rocks in dried up vernal pools. The female will remain with her nest for a couple of weeks or until the nest is inundated with water. The eggs will then proceed to hatch giving them a headstart over other Ambystomaids (mainly maculatum). Up until now I have never watched them hatch but this time I decided to keep an eye out and see just how long it takes. The first eggs started hatching 16 minutes after adding water to them, a lot quicker than I had expected. It took 36 mintues for all of the eggs to hatch and there wasn't even a single bad egg. Your screen color is not off, I like the look of tannin water so I added a little bit of blackwater extract and I had to sit the light behind the tank so you could see them. Altough it's only a minute long I hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn5h3PQ35_A
 
Precocious little things! Are these the ones we found?
 
Indeed some of them are the ones we found. When I went back to check on them for the third time there were caterpillars munching on them so I decided to take the last remaining five.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that when they hatched the front legs were already formed.
 
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Too bad their momma never came back.

Good to know they're in some good hands now.

I always thought their reproduction strategy was so... cool. And then I wonder how, with such a unique reproductive strategy, their genes got mixed in to the Jefferson/Laterale/Tigrinum/Talpoidum/Texanum/Opacum jumble. lol.
 
Intresting video, good to see your efforts weren't in vain Justin. Are you planning on raising them?
 
Interesting video. Good luck on raising them.

Too bad their momma never came back.

Good to know they're in some good hands now.

I always thought their reproduction strategy was so... cool. And then I wonder how, with such a unique reproductive strategy, their genes got mixed in to the Jefferson/Laterale/Tigrinum/Talpoidum/Texanum/Opacum jumble. lol.
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From what I understand is once the mother is disturbed they tend to leave the eggs. I have seen this happen myself a few times (not the same with Four-toeds). Also, their genes aren't mixed in and the only ones that contribute to the hybrid mess are Jeffersonianum, Laterale, Tigrium, Texanum and as they are beginning to find out Barbouri, who seems to be the original hybridizer.

Andy
 
IanF said:
Are you planning on raising them?
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I am planning on it but we'll see how well it goes when they start eating me out of the house. I have raised them before and the hardest part is just keeping a reliable source of appropiate sized items until their large enough to be feed chopped bloodworms, which is only about 3 weeks.
 
Hey Andy, do you know of any recent papers on that? I haven't read anything in a couple years. It's a big, muddled mess!
 
Kaysie,

At the amphib conference last spring in Columbus, which I believe you missed, a guy in Canada presented on it and his findings indicated it all leads back to Barbouri as the parent species to the hybrid mess. Either way Ohio is the epicenter of the hybrids and it is only known to include the species I mentioned. Unfortunately I don't have any papers handy, or even the person's name who presented at the conference.

Andy
 
That's a bummer. I'll do some digging around. Thanks for that. I was pretty bummed about missing that conference.
 
Jim Bogart from the University of Guelph.

Here's one from last year:

Bogart JP, Bi K, Fu J, Noble DWA, Niedzwiecki J. 2007. Unisexual salamanders (genus Ambystoma) present a new reproductive mode for eukaryotes. Genome, 50: 119-136.
 
Andy Avram said:
Kaysie,

At the amphib conference last spring in Columbus, which I believe you missed, a guy in Canada presented on it and his findings indicated it all leads back to Barbouri as the parent species to the hybrid mess. Either way Ohio is the epicenter of the hybrids and it is only known to include the species I mentioned. Unfortunately I don't have any papers handy, or even the person's name who presented at the conference.

Andy
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I believe his name was Dr. Jim Bogart. His is a professor for the University of Guelph (I hope I spelled that right) in Ontario, Canada.

EDIT: I am an idiot! :eek: I completley didn't see your post taherman. Kaysie you can delete this post if you need too.
 
Thanks, the both of you :)
 
Ok so since I can't access the university's website and I have no clue on how else to get the article, do any of you know why maculatum wasn't in the mix Kaysie listed, I would have thought for sure their genes would be in there somewhere.
 
I always thought it was interesting that maculatum isn't in the mix either. I don't know why.
 
Simply because the hybrids don't use them or at least edd development isn't stimulated by Spotted sperm. I would guess maculatum is a little more distantly related than the others.

The real question is why is their a hybrid complex with any of the species?

Andy
 
Greatwtehunter said:
I am planning on it but we'll see how well it goes when they start eating me out of the house. I have raised them before and the hardest part is just keeping a reliable source of appropiate sized items until their large enough to be feed chopped bloodworms, which is only about 3 weeks.
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I would bet that they could take chopped blackworms from day one, if you chop them down small enough. It's been done:pirate: Might make your life easier.
 
That is so cool! They remind me of popcorn.

Thanks
 
Jennewt said:
I would bet that they could take chopped blackworms from day one, if you chop them down small enough. It's been done:pirate: Might make your life easier.
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I never even thought about blackworms, thanks I'll have to see if I can find some around here. I tried chopped bloodworms once and talk about one heck of a mess:rofl:. Oh I did try frozen daphnia today, it took a while but they finally figured out it was food. I might start using them as a supplement to their pond water food.
 
Justin,
If you cannot locate any blackworms in Roanoke I know that C & P Pets in Christainsburg has been carrying them. You may want to call first to check availability before making the drive though.
Chip
 
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