Do You Know About This Cute Mexican Walking Fish?

I found this animal when I was doing my research, and directly fell in love with this little creature, better known as Axolotl, the Mexican Walking Fish. Take a look.

So cute right?

Ambystoma mexicanum is the scientific name of it. Axolotl isn't really a type of fish. Its a type of amphibian in a paused state of metamorphism. It belongs to the Tiger salamander complex and is the larval stage of the salamander.

Adult Axolotl may be about 15cm-45cm long, however, most of it is about 23cm long. As you can see, they have some kind of branch-like gills, which projected on both sides of its neck. Each side split into three branches and covered with feathery pink filaments (pink, how cute!). They have a dark colored body, short legs, with 4 fingers on its front legs, and 5 fingers on its back legs. (I refer it as fingers, just for easier understanding)

Hey, fun facts! This animal kinda look like 'Wooper' and 'Mudkip' from 'Pokemon', don't you think so? Look!

 

Naa, not 100% same, just similar, cause of the branches thing. And, they both have the same element, water.

Axolotl is mainly found in the Mexican lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco, in Mexico city. Too bad, Chalco lake was drained to avoid floods, and Xochimilco lake also been diminished. That's why, now, poor little Axolotls are endangered species.

I found out that Axolotl is a carnivore, and well, they feed on smaller fishes, worms, insects. Axolotl's way of eating: smells the food -> snap the food -> suck the food inside the stomach.

How to indetify between female and male Axolotl? This information will help you. The males can be identified by their longer tails and swollen cloacae lined with papillae. Females have a wider body and lay between 300 to 1000 eggs. Axololts become sexually mature in 12 months. The eggs hatches in two to three weeks time. Take a look, that's Axolotl's eggs.

Dear friends, its so bad to know that Axolotls are endangered species, mainly due to water pollutions. Another reason is that they are being preyed, and they're defenseless. Poor them! But nowadays, many people keep them, and breed them, as pets, and that's quite a relieve.

Save the best for the last, now I'll tell you the most magnificent thing bout Axolotl. It can heal itself! Yep, they can regenerate their body parts, even to restore some parts of their brains! How amazing!

So, I guess that's all about Axolotl. Thanks for reading :)

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axolotl
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/mexican-walking-fish.html

Photos:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v480/arabia/?action=view&current=MexicanWalkingFish.jpg
http://totallylookslike.icanhascheezburger.com/2009/04/01/wooper-totally-looks-like-axolotl/
http://cheezburger.com/Jack_9632/lolz/View/2706196480
http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Amphibian,%20Axolotl.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33210473@N05/3870005249
http://www.neatorama.com/2009/10/16/axolotl-salamanders/