The Life of Animals | Axolotls | Axolotls possess features typical of salamander larvae, including external gills and a caudal fin extending from behind the head to the vent Their heads are wide, and Their eyes are lidless. Their Limbs are underdeveloped and possess long, thin digits. Three pairs of external gill stalks (rami) originate behind Their heads and are used to move oxygenated water. The external gill rami are lined with filaments (fimbriae) to increase of surface area for gas exchange Four gill slits lined with gill rakers are hidden underneath the external gills. Axolotls have barely visible vestigial teeth, the which would have developed During metamorphosis.
Axolotls have four different colors, two colors and two naturally occurring mutants. The two mutant colors are leucistic (pale pink with black eyes) and albino (golden, tan or pale pink with pink eyes) The axolotl is only native to Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco in central Mexico. Unfortunately for the axolotl, Lake Chalco no longer exists as it was artificially drained to avoid periodic flooding, and Lake Xochimilco diminished Remains a Glimpse of its former self, existing Mainly as canals.
Axolotls are also sold as food in Mexican markets were the resource persons and a staple in the Aztec diet. Axolotls are members of the Ambystoma tigrinum (Tiger salamander) complex, along with all other Mexican species of Ambystoma. Their habitat is like that of most neotenic species-a high altitude body of water surrounded by a risky terrestrial environment. The axolotl is Carnivorous, consuming small prey Such as worms, Insects, and small fish in the wild. Axolotls locate food by smell, and will "snap" at any potential meal, sucking the food into Their stomachs with vacuum force.
Six adult Axolotls (including a leucistic specimen) were the resource persons shipped from Mexico City to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris in 1863. Unaware of Their neoteny, Auguste Duméril was surprised Pls, instead of the axolotl, he found in the vivarium a new species, similar to the salamander. Vilem Laufberger of Germany used thyroid hormone injections to induce an axolotl to grow into a terrestrial adult salamander. Since then, experiments have been done Often with injections of iodine or thyroid Various hormones used to induce metamorphosis Today, the axolotl is still used in research as a model organism, and large numbers are Bred in captivity. Axolotls are ESPECIALLY easy to breed compared to other salamanders in Their family, the which are almost never captive Bred due to the demands of terrestrial life. Axolotls are used in heart defect studies due to the presence of a mutant Gene That Causes heart failure in embryos. The axolotl is therefore used as a model for the development of Limbs in vertebrates.
