JodieBromilow
New member
Ive noticed all my juvi wild-type babies have gold/silver sparkly gills, The mother is white albino and father is wild-type. Ive never seen any wild-types with gills like these?.
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My wild-type juviniles have gold sparkly gills?
- Thread starter JodieBromilow
- Start date
xxianxx
Well-known member
Very nice, put me down for some eggs when the same adults lay again.
JodieBromilow
New member
They layed again yesterday but along with 2 other females so dont have a clue which batches is from what female lol, ive got 17 of theses babys.
JodieBromilow
New member
These are baby axolotl`s I bred them myself :happy:.
Of course, but domestic axolotls have tiger salamander in them from a hybridisation event many years ago. I obviously don´t know if it´s the case, but it´s possible for this to be a tiger salamander gene that has randomly surfaced.
JodieBromilow
New member
Hmm.. Interesting :happy:
Kaysie
Site Contributor
Iridophores tend to concentrate in the gills. I've had larvae with shiny gills before, but not to that extreme. They're lovely!
JodieBromilow
New member
Thank you, I noticed it when they were only around 8 weeks old but now its like this! cant wait too see what they'll be like when there adults. Im planningon keeping theses two in the picture as these are the biggest out of the 19 also with silver/gold gills 
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JodieBromilow
New member
Ive just been looking closley at the axolotls with gold eyes and the ones in the photo are starting to develop little gold flecks/spots on there body, im guessing when they axies grow so will the gold patches on there body?
Jake
Well-known member
As Kaysie said, those gold areas are called iridophores, it's a crystal pigment. Perfectly normal in wild types. However, not all have them, and it is definitely not just a tiger salamander characteristic. For example, here is a photo of a ~22cm larval tiger salamander from the southwest US I had a few years ago that shows no iridophores and most of the larvae I find here in Illinois have few or none. It all depends on the individual. I doubt your axolotls have any more tiger salamander genes than anyone else's.
JodieBromilow
New member
Wow , thank you for all the information! , oh and Happy new year!.
, thank you for all the information! , oh and Happy new year!.But then, also this:
Google Image Result for http://www.axolotl.org/images/tiger/tiger_larva.jpg
It´s no surprise that such a variable group like the tiger salamander complex would have wide variation on a trait such as this. It´s also not surprising that axolotls show polymorphisms for various traits.
Now, it´s typically true that iridophores concentrate on the gills, but as we have seen it´s not always the case, or the concentration is trivially different from the rest of the body. Your average axolotl shows much lower concentrations than Jodie´s do.
IF, and i stress, if this trait that Jodie´s animals have were to be the result of a tiger salamander introgression it wouldn´t necessarily imply a higher proportion of tiger salamander in them than in your average domestic axolotl. You would only need the one gene (in principle) to randomly pop up.
Anyway, as i said, this is purely speculative. I just thought it was curious that this unusually high concentration of iridophores on the gills, which is atypical for axolotls, has a correlation in at least some tiger salamander populations for which it may be the norm.
Google Image Result for http://www.axolotl.org/images/tiger/tiger_larva.jpg
It´s no surprise that such a variable group like the tiger salamander complex would have wide variation on a trait such as this. It´s also not surprising that axolotls show polymorphisms for various traits.
Now, it´s typically true that iridophores concentrate on the gills, but as we have seen it´s not always the case, or the concentration is trivially different from the rest of the body. Your average axolotl shows much lower concentrations than Jodie´s do.
IF, and i stress, if this trait that Jodie´s animals have were to be the result of a tiger salamander introgression it wouldn´t necessarily imply a higher proportion of tiger salamander in them than in your average domestic axolotl. You would only need the one gene (in principle) to randomly pop up.
Anyway, as i said, this is purely speculative. I just thought it was curious that this unusually high concentration of iridophores on the gills, which is atypical for axolotls, has a correlation in at least some tiger salamander populations for which it may be the norm.
JodieBromilow
New member
Hmm very interesting :wacko:, but why would the tiger salamander gene show up now after so many generations?
Why not? A gene can be turned off and be turned on again by a mutation. Nothing, in principle, prevents a tiger salamander gene to be inactivated but nevertheless inherited and then mutate or find itself in a specific genetic environment that allows for its phenotypical expression.
If you´ve ever heard of atavisms, they are a very nice example of this kind of phenomenon. They correspond to genes or clusters of genes that are normally inactivated or regulated to be expressed to a specific degree (or which are expressed up to a point and then overriden later on), but which randomly mutate and reactivate or modify their degree of expression producing things like 4 limbs in dolphins, tails in humans, teeth in chickens...
Anyway, there´s no way of knowing if your animal´s trait is tiger salamander inherited or completely novel, just by looking at them. I just thought it was enough of a striking similarity to raise the question.
If you´ve ever heard of atavisms, they are a very nice example of this kind of phenomenon. They correspond to genes or clusters of genes that are normally inactivated or regulated to be expressed to a specific degree (or which are expressed up to a point and then overriden later on), but which randomly mutate and reactivate or modify their degree of expression producing things like 4 limbs in dolphins, tails in humans, teeth in chickens...
Anyway, there´s no way of knowing if your animal´s trait is tiger salamander inherited or completely novel, just by looking at them. I just thought it was enough of a striking similarity to raise the question.
JodieBromilow
New member
So if they do carry or have the tiger salmander gene do you think they could possibly morph?
I couldn´t possibly know. All i can say is that i think it is extremely unlikely that genes for increased iridophore production would be linked to genes that affect metamorphosis, so no, even if there is a tiger salamander gene causing this trait, there´s no reason to expect any alterations on metamorphosis regulation.
Methodzki
Member
They'll grow up to be ravers!!!
JodieBromilow
New member
Thank you :happy:, im looking forward in seeing them grow!
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Clareclare:
Would Chinese fire belly newts be more or less inclined towards an aquatic eft set up versus...
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