Chester Zoo 

Axolotl

Axolotls are long and slim with short legs and usually dark body colours, grey, brown and gold, though some albinos have been bred in aquariums. The have four digits on their front feet and five on the hind feet. They move slowly, surfacing occasionally for air.

What they eat

Young axolotl mainly feed on algae but older ones will eat aquatic invertebrates.

How long they live

10 – 15 years.

Biology

To the fascination of researchers and scientists, the axolotl can remain in a larval stage throughout its life allowing it to live permanently in water and never metamorphose into a full adult Mexican salamander. But it will metamorphose if its habitat dries up or is put at risk. It has lungs and also branch like gills projecting from its neck on each side of its head. With feathery filaments these increase the surface area available to it for gas exchange. It is usually inactive in the day and will rest with its gills splayed.
Axolotls are sexually mature by a year to 18 months of age, with mating preceded by a courtship ritual in which males nudge the females before depositing cone-shaped spermatophores onto rocks or plants. These are taken up by the female to fertilise her eggs, which she lays the next day. A female produces an average of 200 eggs in 24 hours, but can lay up to 400.

Did you know?

If wounded, the bodily make up of axolotls enable them to convert tissue at the wound site into stem cells which are able to re-grow new tissue and even whole new limbs.