Weird ones at shop

[shelagh]

Hi

I went to the shop where I got my two yesterday to get some stuff and they had some new ones in. One of them had no gills what so ever, and no eyes either, and the other one had very short gills. Does this mean they hadn't grown yet, or is there something not quite right with them? I only ask as I have some pupils who want to get some ( we are starting a club in school now) and I don't want them to get ones that might not survive!
Thanks

 

[claire]

are you sure they are definately axies? because if they arent then it could mean they are going to morph. if they are axies then i think it means there isnt enough oxygen in the water. the bigger and redder the gills the more oxygen there is in the water.

if im wrong please correct me.lol.

 

[brian]

The one without the eyes is definetly an axolotl. To my knowledge, there aren't any other salamanders in the Ambystoma genus that have the eyeless mutation. I'm not sure if that mutation can morph or not, but it's a possibility that it's morphing. As a side note, the eyeless mutation is sterile, so if your students are looking to breed them, they should be aware of this. Check out http://www.indiana.edu/~axolotl/axolotls/mutantslist.html for a list of the more common mutations.

(Message edited by brian on February 09, 2005)

(Message edited by brian on February 09, 2005)

 

[shelagh]

They look just like my two but without gills. There are another four (which are definately axies) as well which apparently all came from the same source!

(Message edited by amadeus on February 09, 2005)

 

[sharn]

if the eyeless mutation is sterile how does more of them pop up? or are the eggs injected with a chemical or something?

 

[eric]

From what a gather from that page, only animals homozygous for that particular gene are eyeless. Heterozygous ones would still carry the gene but not express it. Like the blonde gene in humans.

 

[shelagh]

Very strange looking anyway. I rather like the big gills my two have - makes them look very cute, especially when they are begging for food ( which they seem to spend rather a lot of time doing - must still be growing).

I think I will advise the kids to go for the more normal looking ones. I am quite tempted to get the really odd one myself and keep him in a shallow tank if he is mutating.