"Popei-like" nominate C. ensicauda

Hi Tim,
I heard you are still in Amami at least your soul.....
Anyway, could you show us the C.e.ensicauda which looks like C.e.popei from this trip.
Thanks.

This was the crown jewel among the ones we brought back with us (as far as I was concerned):



My travel mate's top pick was not as brightly colored but was arguably even more beautiful in a sense. For the record, I caught neither one of them ...though it was me that netted the popei-like one pictured in the second post of this thread, while chest-deep in a murky pond, risking life and limb!


(Message edited by TJ on October 08, 2005)

You heard right. I can't get my mind off the Amami Islands since returning from there. In fact, I dreamt about it again last night!

There were several "types" of nominate ensicauda to be observed, almost any of which could be found in any pond in any part of Amami-Oshima, which some exceptions. The most common were those with a chocolate-colored dorsum without markings on it, followed by those with red dorso-lateral lines of varying degrees of width and length, and less commonly those peppered with generally faint goldish dots or speckles, mostly along the sides. And then there was just one found with the almost same sort of goldish speckles that one sees commonly with C. ensicauda popei:


<font size="-2">(this is a very poor picture of this individual -- I'll post a better one later)</font>

Regarding belly markings and coloration, the same applied, namely newts with varied coloration (from light to dark orange) and varied patterns (from almost no markings to extensive markings) on the vent could be found in the very same pond, whether it be in the north of Amami-Oshima Island or in the island's south, or on another island in the Amami group like Uke (Ukejima).

(Message edited by TJ on October 08, 2005)

Wow! Real great C.e.e.!

Paul

Cool! The spotting doesn't exactly look like popei, but I have difficulty defining in what way it is different.

there is a difference i think, it's hard to explain, but the speckles on this animal seem to be almost like a parasite or fungus, it doesn't seem like it belongs to the animal, if you get my meaning.

Jen, the one that looks like popei is the one in the first pic. I'll get a shot up in a day or so

Meanwhile, here is another nominate C. ensicauda with exceptional coloration/mottling:





William, I know what you mean, I've seen this kind of thing before with Paramesotriton caudopunctatus, for example.

(Message edited by TJ on October 08, 2005)

OK, here is a clearer shot of the one in the first pic in this thread, the one that most resembles popei.



I never expected to see this type in the Amami Islands, and indeed there was only one among all the 100+ nominate ensicauda we examined there.

Here's the same spectacularly colored male Cynops ensicauda ensicauda, netted in a mountain pond in northern Amami-Oshima Island:



Since it's a young one, it is possible that it may lose some of this popei-like coloration over time and become like some mature adults we saw that had goldish mottling, though not to this extent.

(Message edited by TJ on October 08, 2005)

Here are a couple more atypical ones :



(Message edited by TJ on October 08, 2005)