Short gills and long gills??

[Daniel]

Some more points - I just got an excerpt of a book on Firesalamanders by a friend of mine.
In this book there are several studies cited and one part is on oxygen and gill length in Salamandra larvae.
There are two opposing observations: In one case, Salamandra larvae developed longer gills in a tank with a higher oxygen saturation (1.7 mm with 20% saturation and 2.6 mm gill length with 100% saturation).
The other observation was that the gills of larvae from waterbodies with a high load of oxygen, transferred to aquaria with a lower level of oxygen, developed gills.

So I can not see a clear statement considering gill length and oxygen (alone).

 

[sherylbobbins]

I believe it must mostly be due to genetics. My friend's (Christina's) axie had babies and she had long gills. She raised the greater majority of the babies and I raised 1 (Aphrodite). The conditions at my house are quite different to the conditions at her house. Yet every baby when they grew had very long gills.

 

[philbaker76]

Assuming the above is true, is it true that higher oxygen levels will decrease the length of the gills?

Does the length of the gills themselves - the branches - change or just the feathers?

I believe that poor water quality can also cause gills to shrink (please confirm); if so, will the gills then look unhealthy/diseased or simply shorter?

Hi Eva, these are just my personal observations (as a lay-man). Both feathers and branches reduced slightly (I'd say branches more so).

Only time I've noticed gill reduction due to unhealty/diseased was with the fungus, which cause them to literally break off in places.

Phil - did you measure the oxygen concentration at your observations?

No, noticed the changes when I altered set-ups - i.e. more oxygenating plants and air stones. Nothing calculated - just observations of a pet owner.

 

[pixiegriff]

Eva -

This thread reads like the debate if intellegence is inherited or environmental. I'll do more reading and chuck in a few references in a few days, but for now I think there is a lot more to it than oxygen and I'm convinced gill size is mostly nurture with only a small pinch of genetics despite having two axolotls of (probably) the same sex, near identical size and weight and very different gill size which have been raised together.

I too have three Axolotls, all from the same batch. All different sizes, and all have very different gills. The largest has the longest most bushy gills. The little one had very long skinny gills, not bushy and the middle one has fat gills, that are quite bushy but really stubby (that's why we called him "Stubbs")
Funny that when we got them, they were all quite similar in size, but now, the little one is tiny and the big one is three times his size.
Even the pigmentation is odd.
They are all white with black eyes and gills which go really red when eating.
The Biggest one has just a tiny bit of dark dots around his mouth.
The middle one is covered in dark dots to the back of his head.
The tiny one is all white with no dots.

From the same batch, and aging the same...but still maturing at very different rates.
The large one has an absolutely huge bump behind the legs...but I noticed when "his" belly was pointed to the front of the tank that there is a slit in the middle of it. Does this indicate male or female? Or do both bumps have an opening?
Thanks for all being here for the ongoing fascination!
Paula

 

[madeve]

In the little bit of experience I've had with my axies, I'm inclined to think that the oxygen level in the water can be the cause for the difference in gills.

On this picture my axie was in a plastic container (no bubbler, no filter) and I changed the water daily (sometimes every other day). The water temp was around 72ºF.

His gills were long and feathery.

In this picture he had been moved to the tank where I had a filter and a bubbler, the temp here was around 68ºF.

His gills were much shorter and barely had any feathers.