C. e. popei, a few pics of some different patterns

[duncan]

Hi All,

Just a few pics of some of my popei. These are the brightest of my bunch and unfortunately the pics don't do them justice. They have finally gone completely aquatic and are only now starting to really gain some size.

The pic of the 2 newts together (below) shows the size disparity between clutchmates, the smaller one just never put on size like the bigger more gold one.

In the following pic with 3 newts, the two smaller newts are almost 6 months different in age from each other! The smaller one at the bottom is the same newt that's in the picture above.

Hope you enjoy,
Duncan

 

[jennifer]

Hi Duncan, those are some amazing ones. About how old are they? From what age do you manage to raise them aquatically?

 

[audrey]

Those are so cool, I want some!

 

[joseph]

Great photo! Pretty odd they have solid gold spots as opposed to just flecks.

 

[duncan]

Jennifer,

I have been trying to track down my records as to when they morphed out and I think two of the three are about a year post morph (?), maybe a little older. The third, less colourful one is about 8-9 months. They've been completely aquatic for about the last 2 months, give or take a few weeks. They seemed to take forever to put on any size for the first half year post morph despite regular and varied feedings. It seems to take most of my popei about 3 months to morph out.

Duncan

 

[jennifer]

It's interesting that yours seem to have large blotches of white, while mine always have speckles of white. I wonder if it's due to different localities of origin, or just chance. For comparison, here's a photo of two of mine that have the most white. These guys are about 8-9 months old.

 

[duncan]

My guess is its just chance. Here's a very recent morph of mine and as you can see its spots are quite a bit smaller than the others above, much more like yours Jennifer. Mind you, those spots still seem to be a little more defined and less like "flecks," so maybe this is characteristic of a locale. Almost all of mine tend to have the red stripe down the dorsum too.

Duncan

 

[TJ]

Duncan, yours (and they sure are beautiful!) are definitely of southern Okinawa stock, while yours, Jen, look to me to be of the strain found in the central & northern parts of the island. The southern ones generally have bigger and brighter blotches and the lines, when present, tend to be thicker and not so broken up. That's not to say they're all like Duncan's -- far from it! Those are very special

(Message edited by TJ on October 27, 2006)

 

[jennifer]

Thanks for that, Tim! I suspected they could be of different populations, as the spotting does look quite different. Even on the last photos from Duncan, the white spots are larger than the white specks on mine.

Regarding the orange stripe and other orange markings on Duncan's animals... I have noticed that captive-raised ensicauda tend to have more orange (or less black, if you look at it the other way). This was true for the first batch of young that I raised, although the ones I have now seem to be more black. Perhaps it could be a dietary factor in captivity that limits the formation of black color - just a guess.

 

[joseph]

I might have posted this already, but here is another one of Jenns stock in the aquatic stage. The colors are more intense then(prolly due to smooth skin and simply being wet).

Interesting on the differences due to where on the island they come from. I don't think Okinawa is very large so it is interesting that populations on the opposite sides manage to become different due to a gradual trend like that.

Duncan: Wow That last one is a real looker!

(Message edited by fishkeeper on November 02, 2006)

 

[danny]

Great babies there Duncan! They sure have gotten bigger since the last time I came over for a visit. They each have a more pronounced pattern to them. I got a group of 5 from Jen that look just as good as the ones in her first picture she posted. I wonder what kind of offspring the lighter ones and the darker ones will produce?