THE FASCINATING LIFE CYCLE OF AXOLOTLS

Today we are going to talk about one of the most interesting animals in the world, the axolotl. They are being studied by scientist for many different reasons. Despite being known as Mexican walking fish, they are amphibians related to the tiger salamander. However, they aren’t just as any other salamander, they are neotenic, which means that they don’t develop adult characteristics. As they never go through metamorphosis, they remain aquatic creatures even in their adulthood. Keep reading, and I go more in depth about some of the topics that I’ve introduced so far.

Photo by: Scazon
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

If you take a look at the photo, you can see that axolotls have some characteristics which aren’t present in regular adult salamanders. They retain features from the larval period throughout all their lives. Unlike salamanders, they have external gills with filaments, a caudal fin, gill slits under the external gills and they eat by suction, as they don’t have fully developed teeth. This is called paedomorphism and it means that they retain juvenile or larval features during their life. But, why do they never completely develop?

As I mentioned in the introductory paragraph, axolotls are neotenic salamanders but what does that mean? Neotenic animals experience a slowing in their physical development while their sexual development occurs at a normal speed. When the sexual maturity is reached, physical development is stopped and never completed. This phenomenon is linked to a lack of thyroid stimulating hormone and is thought to be a survival mechanism. In the aquatic environments and in a juvenile state, less food is needed. Metamorphosis and full adult development can be induced by iodine shots or injections.

Photo by: Iñaki RT
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Axolotls are subjects of many studies for many reasons that intrigue scientists. They have an awesome transplant acceptance, being able to use transplanted parts at their full potential very soon after the surgery. This is studied for its medical application in humans. Another amazing characteristic is their extremely effective regeneration capacity. They can regenerate, instead of scarring, parts of almost all the tissues including the nervous system.

For all their amazing abilities, their interesting features and how useful they could be for medical research, axolotls are fascinating animals. They seem to defy laws of biology and that makes them unique.

Comentarios

Entradas populares de este blog

THE 10 MOST VENOMOUS ANIMALS IN THE WORLD

Among the many kinds of defense and hunting mechanisms of the animal kingdom, one of the most famous and feared is the use of venom. It is used to dissuade predators and to debilitate preys by animals of all sizes and groups. If you want to learn more about the most toxic animals in the world, keep reading. Photo by: Leszek Leszczynski https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ 10.- Pufferfish: Pufferfishes are widely known for their ability to inflate when they feel threatened and the fact that they have sharp spines covering their body. But if that is not enough, they have another defense mechanism. In their internal organs, they have a very strong neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin, which name comes from the name of the order formed by these fishes. When it enters the body of any animal, it blocks sodium channels of the neurons. This inhibits the generation of action potentials, which are responsible for the transmission of nervous impulses. This inevitably leads to the fa...

FOR JUMPING SPIDERS, IT IS ALL ABOUT THE EYES

Some spiders are famous for being big, like tarantulas, others are famous for being venomous, like black widows, but the ones I am going to talk about today are famous for very different reasons. With 6,000 different species, they are the biggest family of all spider, containing 13% of the known species. The members of the Salticidae family, also known as jumping spiders, have very complex visual organs, amazing jumping ability and a face perpendicular to the ground. All these unique characteristics makes them some of the most interesting spiders in the world. If you want to learn about some of their secrets, make sure to read this article until the end. Their vision is the sense from which most of their characteristics are based. Unlike most spiders, they have an excellent sight, and each of their 4 pairs of eyes have a different function. As you can see in the in the diagram, they have two anterior and two posterior pairs. Depending on their position in the head, they are surna...

PENGUINS ARE LOVING PARENTS

Photo by: David https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Penguins form a family of birds called Spheniscidae. They are very special species as they are aquatic birds with specific adaptations to swim. The inevitable consequence of these features is that penguins have lost the ability to fly. All the species of this family are found in the Southern hemisphere, except for the Galapagos penguin, which lives in the Northern hemisphere. Despite the mental image most of us have and although it is partially true, not all penguins live in extremely cold environments. Some species live in mild temperature areas, although it is only possible due to cold water currents originated in the Antarctic. Even though there are many interesting facts about penguins, today we are going to focus on their breeding process and their parental care. Penguins have a very interesting breeding process, which is an exception to many rules of the animal kingdom. Photo by: David Stanley https://crea...

Terrestria: The Earth's Brand

Buscar este blog