<i>Hynobius tokyoensis</i> larvae

[TJ]

 

[TJ]

Note the balancer under the head:

 

[TJ]

 

[ingo]

Hello Tim,
very nice photos! They seem to grow well...

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Tim wrote on Thursday, 21 April, 2005 - 19:08 :</font>

"Note the balancer under the head:"<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>
which purpose does the "balancer" have, is it really to keep balance?

Greets, Ingo

 

[paris]

tim
sure...rub it in...

!!!!
i going to take a whole bunch of photos of Plethodons and post them all up to get back at you for this!!!!

ingo
-balancers keep the larvae upright on the substrate till the front legs grow in enough to do the job, they absorb back into the body fairly soon after hatching

(Message edited by TJ on May 20, 2005)

 

[TJ]

Hi Ingo.

Ditto what Paris just said and then this for good measure:

<u>Source:</u>
Biology of Amphibians
The John Hopkins University Press
By William E. Duellman and Linda Trueb
Illustrated by Linda Trueb

And while we're on the subject, I still haven't managed to track down this article:

Phylogenetic and evolutionary perspectives on an enigmatic organ: the balancer of larval caudate amphibians
By A.J. Crawford and D.B. Wake
Zoology 101:107-123 (1998)

Anybody who has it or can get ahold of it, please don't hesitate to also forward me a copy

 

[ingo]

Thanks for the information, Paris and Tim!
Since I am keeping Salamandra spp/ssp (who have already four legs when "hatching"/ given birth), I didn´t see the point

 

[paris]

tim,
ive got the abstract here
http://serials.cib.unibo.it/cgi-ser/start/it/spogli/df-s.tcl?prog_art=1341698&language=ITALIANO&view=articoli

cant get the whole thing through my college.....

 

[paris]

check this out....

Sci Sin. 1977 Jan-Feb;20(1):56-8. Related Articles, Links


Organ formation caused by nucleic acid from different class.--Urodele DNA mediated balancer formation in goldfish.

Tung TC, Niu MC.

DNA was isolated from visceral organs of urodele and injected into fertilized eggs of goldfish. Approximately 1% of the young fish developed one balancer. From gross and microscopical structures, site of development, and nature of absorption, it resembles the balancer of urodelian species.

PMID: 560055 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

anyone up for some gene therapy??

 

[ingo]

Hi Paris,
weird thing...

 

[TJ]

4 morphs so far and 40 or so more to go. It's been a very smooth ride

(they'll all be eventually released into the area from where the egg sacs came from)

A pics of a few that are expected to morph in a day or two: