World of Wonder: Axolotls

by Aimee Nezhukumatathil · January 15, 2015

Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s previous World of Wonder columns can be found here.

giphy

This little guy has the best little smile of all of the smiley animals with no bones. The axolotl (pronounced AX-OH-LOT-ULL) is also known as the “Mexican Walking Fish,” though it isn’t actually a fish, but an amphibian. Axolotls are one of the only amphibians that spend their whole life underwater and are neotenous—they grow up without going through metamorphosis like other famous amphibians, like say, the frog. Scientists have taken to studying them for their regenerative properties; they can regrow lost limbs.

My favorite axolotls are the ones that are pale pink with black eyes (leucistic), but they are also brown or black, and can sometimes pop out of their eggs in the loveliest spooky shade of gold-albino with pink eyes.

What is particularly sad about these guys is that the International Union for Conservation of Nature‘s endangered species list has determined there are no more axolotls found in the wild. They used to swim in abundance in two particular lakes in Mexico, but there haven’t been any documented cases of finding a single wild axolotl since 2013. One of the lakes has been drained as a result of the growth of Mexico City, and the other was recently overrun with carp, which gobble up axolotl eggs like M&Ms. Axolotls are now mostly found in various aquariums and fish supply stores to be sold as pets. It’s hard to remember they are endangered when you see them “smile” at you in aquariums.

Perhaps second only to the axolotl’s smile is its easily distinguished external gills on stalks that fan across the back of the axolotl’s neck. The average axolotl grows to be just over a foot long, and they dine on all manner of worms: blood, earth, wax. They also fancy small crustaceans, insect larvae, and even small fish for a meal.

But don’t let the axolotl’s “smile” fool you—they are pretty ferocious and sometimes even cannibalistic. Always the axolotl will warn you with his clawed hands that look like pink stars. And when he eats, when he gathers a tangle of bloodworms into his mouth—you will learn how a galaxy first learns to spin in the dark.

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27 Comments

  3. ramina +7

    I first saw a picture of axolotls in my tenth grade biology textbook and fell in love immediately. Look at how precious they are! It hurts to think how endangered they are. 🙁

  4. noteventherain +6

    This is really wonderful. Also, I highly recommended: the Julio Cortazar story “Axolotl,” which is how I first learned about axolotls.

  6. Bunburying +15

    I love axolotls and am haunted by the poor choices of the human race in deciding which species to annihilate. (why not bedbugs, jesus)

    2. RuncibleSpoon +5

      they’re on a very small list of animals that I think just might also be fictional

      see also incredibly tiny frogs, nudibranchs

  8. annesedney +12

    Shameful admission time: I’d only heard of these critters before because my character in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood had to attend an event for a charity that was trying to save them.

  9. damanoid +44

    There used to be axolotls
    but now there are axonotl
    oh won’t you come baxolotl
    you beautiful axolotls

    1. Toft +31

      Ecologists axosoughtl
      the last of the axolotyls
      they followed their traxolotl
      but the search came to axonaughtl

      Let’s pause for a quick axothoughtl
      on what our species hath axowroughtl
      it’s time to face faxolotl:
      we don’t act as we axoloughtl

      There used to be axolotls
      but now there are axonotl
      oh won’t you come baxolotl
      you beautiful axolotls

        1. Toft +11

          I bow right back atcha! I wasn’t sure whether to add more verses, or just leave a comment telling you that your poem made me grin like a doofus and feel wistful about axolotls at the same time. But I’m glad you liked the verses I wrote! Whatever heights they may have achieved were gained by standing on the external gill stalks of giants.

  15. jlper +6

    I love axolotls! My college had a bunch of them. They regenerate limbs, and even sometimes parts of their brains, and they’re neotenous, which means they don’t undergo metamorphosis the way most amphibians do, but you CAN induce metamorphosis with iodine.

    They’re the best.

  16. poire

    I love axolotls! My college had a bunch of them. They regenerate limbs, and even sometimes parts of their brains, and they're neotenous, which means they don't undergo metamorphosis the way most amphibians do, but you CAN induce metamorphosis with iodine.

    They're the best.

  21. m s

    What? Me worry? I read Mad, and Mad always used the world axolotl (along with veeblefeetzer and more). See “I wandered lonely as a clod.”