My Amazing little Nemo, His Storie And a Question. Is He Piebald???

[sde]

So, I wanted to share the story behind Nemo and ask a question about his color.
So here is the story.

Last fall I was looking for crossing newts. I was aware that there would be juveniles crossing at this time ( after metamorphoses ) so I was on the lookout for them too. I had found a few in the last few days and hours. I was on the way down a hill when I saw him. Before I even picked him up I saw that he had what looked like dark spots. And when I picked him up and looked closer I saw that he did! I decided that I wanted to keep him knowing that this is probably not a usual thing. So I took him home. I thought maybe it was just a little pattern from when he was a larvae, but I really doubt it is. I put him in a simple terrestrial setup and he didn't eat much. After a while he got REALLY thin. So I put him in a naturalist setup that I thought that it would have lots of bugs, but he didn't eat. Then one night I had this dream. It sounds stupid but it really got my attention and was a "emotional" dream. It was that I got this fish on an island, and I had to go back to the other part of the island by a little raft thing that had holes in it. I was about to hop of the boat with him when the bag he was in slipped out of my hand and fell on the boat and he fell into the ocean and I never saw him again. I got another one in the end but I didn't like him as much. Anyway. So that first fish I really liked. He was a awesome blue and stuff. And in the dream I named him Nemo. But he escaped. It was actually really sad. So I decided to give my little skinny and amazing newt the name Nemo.

But then the other day I had some small worms that I caught and decided to give the little guy a try at feeding. I was super confident he wouldn't eat. He was quit literally all skin and bones. I was sure he'd die. But I decided to give him one last chance. And he ate! He ate two little pieces of worm! And now he's eating pretty nicely. He has put on a lot more weight, though he is still kind of thin.

But today I decided to take some pictures of my little Nemo. I wanted to show you guys the spots, and see if you guys thought he is a piebald color pattern.
The pictures have been edited so that they are better and so you can see the spots more clearly. The originals that I took didn't show the spots very well.

I really want to raise him and maybe breed him too. It would be so awesome to see him as a adult! I have always wanted to find a piebald T. granulosa ever since I saw a picture of one in a book.

So what do you think? Is he a piebald?

Enjoy! -Seth


P.S. Look closely.

 

[Kaysie]

Piebaldism is when an animal has random patches of unpigmented skin. This animal has no unpigmented skin.

He's not piebald, but the splotching is interesting.

 

[sde]

Hmm, ok. I thought he was because I saw a picture of a T. grans in a book ( a book that I usually trust though it was written in the 80s ) and it looked a lot like him and they called it a piebald. So that's why I thought he might be piebald.

I will keep updating as he grows etc..

 

[otolith]

Here is a link what is explaining what piebald means:

Piebald - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Your T. granulosa definitely has an interesting coloration; mottling is unusual within the whole genus. Definitely not piebald though, despite what your book led you to believe.

 

[sde]

Ok, not piebald then. Thanks guys for the correction :happy:.

Yes, it is interesting. So doesn't T. g. mazamae ( Mazama or crater lake newt ) have darker patches or coloration? To my understanding it does, but is it only encroachment of the dark parts on the belly? Or can it be spots too? If so is it possible this is what my newt is, even though it is definitely not a T. g. mazamae?

On a off topic note the crater lake website has made some BIG mistakes on the scientific name of T. g. mazamae. They called it Triturus granulosus mazamae, and they called T. granulosa, Triturus granulosus granulosus. -face palm- oh my............

 

[Azhael]

That used to be the name a loooooong time ago. Basically every newt used to be included in the genus Triturus. Fortunately that´s no longer the case because we have learned better xD
I´m surprised they are using such an incredibly obsolete and useless classification, though, it smells like they found it in an old book under half a metre of dust and not having a bloody clue, went with it.

 

[Chinadog]

I still have the only book on caudata i had when I was a kid, it refers to Japanese fire bellies as Molge pyrrhogaster. I've never seen that name in any other book since so I don't know where they got it from? Yep you guessed it, its a TFH book

 

[Chinadog]

Here it is, printed in 1977!

 

[jpmtotoro]

Here it is, printed in 1977!

oh my god, I had THAT same book when I was a kid! Nostalgia! I'm pretty sure (hopeful) that I donated it a few years back, since the internet turned into a better place for information than a book printed in 1977 ;-)