Longest Taricha Tail

[Otterwoman]

I challenge anyone to post a picture of a Taricha with a longer tail than this!
Relatively speaking, you can see his tail is a little longer than he is.

 

[trincan]

that is soooo cool...

 

[Daniel]

Wow...a newt-"I got the biggest" - contest

 

[dane_zu]

he he, no way mine could compete with that, its got a relatively short tail

 

[Otterwoman]

OK, enough banter. I want to see some tails!

 

[Jennewt]

Tim Johnson posted a couple of contenders here:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42025
(particularly the photo in Post #5)

Are the ones with extraordinarily long tails always male?

 

[Otterwoman]

The one I took a picture of is definitely a male. Yes, those in the link certaily have long tails! And I remember now that I saw those before. You must have this whole site memorized!!

 

[apples]

That's quite a tail!

A longer tail will help males swim away from competing males during amplexus.

 

[oregon newt]

I know this is kind of old, but I thought I'd show my male. I didn't feel like measuring him, but I think he's around 20 cm or more.

 

[Otterwoman]

That was definitely worth the wait! Wow!

He looks like a letter opener in the first picture!

 

[Fiona1504]

Just noticed this post, and while I have no photo to back me up, my lovely Mick, who died last year from a tumour, had a tail that could definitely rival this one. His obituary said " the owner of the most impressive tail on all newtdom". He would hover at the top of his tank, and his tail would still brush the bottom. Seeing your lovely newt brought back all sorts of memories... He is a beauty!!

 

[sde]

Since this thread was mentioned in another thread, i will add my male to it....

Not a super long tail, but its not bad. He is a nice sized one though, 7 inches last time i measured him, though he is probably a bit smaller now that his tail isn't in breeding condition...

Also, in response to the question above, males have longer tails 90% of the time i would say, but some small (young?) males are only 5 inches so then you have to resort to leg length, thinness, and cloaca. Also males seem to have enlarged pelvis's, but i haven't examined a newt pelvis any time recently so i can't be sure

 

[Sith the turtle]

My male had a long tail, but nowhere near as long as some others I've seen:

And my female had quite a long tail compared to others I've seen, here are some of when she was still alive:

(You can see the pigmentation on her cloaca on the above picture)