<i>Hynobius tokyoensis</i> in the wild

[TJ]

This is just a teaser:

There's plenty more to follow

 

[henk]

Hé he... gues who you are teasing ...

 

[TJ]

I know, I know...t'was cruel and unusual punishment to make you wait like that, Henk

Yesterday, I participated in a survey of Hynobius tokyoensis populations in the hills of western Tokyo. We covered about a dozen locations and counted 301 egg sacs (females each lay 2 sacs, for those who don't know

). Some of the sites had roughly as many sacs as the previous year, but some of them had far, far less and had evidently been ravaged by animals or cleared of sacs by collectors who sell them to pet shops. There was a bit of mystery in that we found five dead adults in different locations -- all with their heads chewed off...

Suffering from back problems, I did little of the hard work and spent most of the time taking pics and counting sacs

It may take a while to finish the job, but I'll begin posting pics...

(Message edited by TJ on April 03, 2005)

 

[TJ]

Here are some undisturbed egg sacs in a shallow body of water:

 

[TJ]

There were over 60 egg sacs found in this murky pond by these guys, who are truly experts at what they do

(Message edited by TJ on April 03, 2005)

 

[TJ]

In that pond, the egg sacs varied greatly in their stage of development.

(Message edited by TJ on April 03, 2005)

 

[TJ]

To borrow Henk's words, "a thing of beauty"...

 

[TJ]

 

[TJ]

 

[TJ]

Here's a pic showing the huge difference in size between egg sacs from young adults, probably laying for the first time, and more mature adults:

 

[TJ]

This one particular sac of a less-mature female had only 8 eggs inside it!

(Message edited by TJ on April 04, 2005)

 

[TJ]

Try and spot the pair of egg sacs in the following pic:

Here they are up close and personal:

Considering the location, these egg sacs would have been doomed, and so they were moved a nearby pool with deeper water.

 

[TJ]

Another Kodak moment: