C.e.popei beauty

[Tim Johnson]

This C.e larvae is almost yellow and really stands out from the rest. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out...

What temp. do you keep your c.es at for breeding purposes?
Chris

Mine are at 77-81 in the warmer months and cool to about 66 in the cooler season. They've bred for me the first full season I've had them.

~Aaron

Sorry Chris but I haven't been monitoring or manipulating temps other than to ensure it doesn't get too cold in the winter or too warm in the summer. Mine were furiously laying eggs when the water temp was around 20C. I hear C.e lay eggs almost year-round in their native habitat, unlike C.p (temp. fluctuations in Okinawa/Amami are not nearly as drastic as they are up north in the main islands).

Here's another larvae I have great hopes for:

[Tim Johnson]

And here's another shot of the larvae I posted a pic of before the last pic, with the picture contrast turned down a bit:

Here's my entry into the display of interestingly-colored C.e.p. This is a juvenile that morphed a month or two ago. Can't tell yet about the white spotting, but it has much more orange than usual.

[Tim Johnson]

Fantastic Jen! I'd like to see a close-up shot of that one sometime, maybe when it gets a bit bigger! I haven't seen a one-month-old morph that colorful before. Do keep us posted!

Here's another hopeful of mine:




I don't think it's the same one as in any of those pics I posted before but I'm not entirely sure.

I do wonder if there's any correlation between light-colored larvae and light-colored adults. I have certainly noticed that larval C.e.popei have a wide variation in coloration, from black to quite light. You can scientifically test this for us, Tim! You'd have to separate out a couple of light ones and raise them separately.

I'm not Tim, but maybe I'll raise some of mine separately. We shall see

~Aaron

[Tim Johnson]

Yes, please do so Aaron. And remember, adding artificial coloring to their food doesn't count!

Jen...I'll separate what I have left and see what happens. But I'm running out of C.e.p larvae to "experiment" with as most have morphed already and the adults are not laying more. (I do have massive quantities of C.e.e larvae -- too bad C.e.e are not as colorful as C.e.p...)

I suppose it's genetic. I don't know to what extent food has anything to do with it (beta-carotene and all that stuff). I always start my hatchlings out on brine, then switch to tubifex, and finally a combination of tubifex and bloodworm, but mostly bloodworm.

If we humans can transform a wolf into a pug through selective breeding, dunno why we can't enlist Mother Nature's help in coming up with a hybrid strain of C.e.p, one that's covered head to tail in pure gold

By the way, the WC newt in the very first pic above was being sold as a "designer newt"

just a side not here: the wolf is not the same subspecies as dog. I believe Canis lupis is wolf, while Canis lupis faciata or something like that is the common dog.

~Aaron

[Tim Johnson]

You can see some interesting color variations of adult C.e at this site maintained by Mr. Satoshi Sakuma.

The three C.e. in the bottom row are particularly interesting.

http://www.ikimono.net/sono21/index.html

Tim, are all those pictures of C.e. popei, or are some nominate C.e.e.? There is one that is totally black. Is it possible for popei to be completely black? I have a couple of juvenile popei that are, but I still have hope that they will get some spots in time.

[Tim Johnson]

Hi Jen, yes, that's a completely black C.e.p -- like one adult I have that I acquired it for that very reason. Mine was caught in the northern part of Okibnawa Island. and the ones it was with were also mostly black. Interesting, eh? I also have some over 1-year-old juvies like that and it remains to be seen whether they'll stay that way.

[Tim Johnson]

Here's the adult I mentioned:

[Tim Johnson]

Here's the same one as the larvae in the pics above...upon morphing. It's unusual to get coloration like this at this stage. Usually the colors emerge quite some time afterward. Will keep an eye on this one!

That should be "Okinawa Island" in my earlier post (not "Okibnawa").

[Tim Johnson]

An interesting color variation can also be seen here:

http://www.rieo.net/amph/saramand/im...ps/siriken.htm