# Lizard with gills and lungs?



## Jacobchinarian (Feb 12, 2011)

I no nothing about reptiles but today I was at a reptile expo and I saw a lizard with gills AND lungs. :? Does anyone know WTH this is. They had these long beard looking things around their neck.


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## skippy (Feb 12, 2011)

Probably an axolotl or a large salamander nymph. Amphibian, not reptile though.


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## H. laoticus (Feb 12, 2011)

skippy said:


> Probably an axolotl or a large salamander nymph. Amphibian, not reptile though.


What he said.  Actually, here: 
 [YOUTUBE]MxA0QVGVEJw[/YOUTUBE]


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## skippy (Feb 12, 2011)

that was awsome:clap:


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## ZephAmp (Feb 13, 2011)

If you went to the Taylor reptile show, you saw axolotls.


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## J Morningstar (Feb 13, 2011)

They are amphibians that almost never reach adulthood or maturity...most never do in captivity, mine did! I owned an albino one for nearly I believe it was 6 years, during the last 2 it shed its gills and spent most of it's time on a rock half out of water. they are very hard to keep unless you think hand feeding every time on the end of a popcicle stick is easy. I also have him tattooed around my ankel.


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## Jacobchinarian (Feb 14, 2011)

J Morningstar said:


> They are amphibians that almost never reach adulthood or maturity...most never do in captivity, mine did! I owned an albino one for nearly I believe it was 6 years, during the last 2 it shed its gills and spent most of it's time on a rock half out of water. they are very hard to keep unless you think hand feeding every time on the end of a popcicle stick is easy. I also have him tattooed around my ankel.


Why don't they reach maturity? Are they just not very hardy?


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## RoachGirlRen (Feb 15, 2011)

They're plenty hardy and can be very long lived. However, they exhibit neoteny - retaining juvenille characteristics even when sexually mature. Typically only larval salamanders have the gills you see in adult axolotls.


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## Lolita (Feb 15, 2011)

skippy said:


> Probably an axolotl or a large salamander nymph. Amphibian, not reptile though.


so axolotl's are baby salamanders? or are they a different thing i was told salamanders and axolotl's are different animals


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## jere000 (Feb 16, 2011)

Lolita said:


> so axolotl's are baby salamanders? or are they a different thing i was told salamanders and axolotl's are different animals


An axolotl is a species of amphibian not a salamander in it's larval stage.


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## zonbonzovi (Feb 16, 2011)

IMO, the best starter page on Ambystoma mexicanum:

http://www.axolotl.org/

More than you ever wanted to know can be found here:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...help-topics/f48-axolotls-ambystoma-mexicanum/

They are quite hardy and easy to keep if the tank is large enough and the water has been "seasoned" properly.


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## Athelas (Feb 22, 2011)

Neoteny is generally a change in development such that some characteristics do not reach the ancestral adult form.  If it confers a selective advantage, the trait can potentially become so common that it becomes the new norm.  The axolotls are sexually mature at adulthood, so clearly part of the body plan remains ancestrally adult.  External gills would provide an advantage if you are a large salamander who stays in the water after adulthood, I suppose.

Neoteny may have played a role in the evolution of some human characteristics, such as retaining the infant-like characteristic of not having yet grown in a thick pelt of body hair. 

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