The first time I bred newts all the eggs were infertile. I had never really seen newt eggs before so I didn't know what to look for in the early stages of development. As eggs decay they also change sometimes it even looks a little bit like real development. Here are some changes I've notices eggs undergo in early stages both fertile and infertile:
Fertile changes:
1. For the first few days the brown half of the egg will continue to divide into more and more subsections as the embryo develops until these are no longer visible to then naked eye.
2. after about 4 days the eggs looks like a base ball instead of just being split into two halves.
3. A dark line eventually forms along the brown side.
4. the embryo begins to change shape.
Infertile changes
1. the white half of the egg dramatically increases in size over a few days and the brown half correspondingly shrinks.
2. Dark speckles begin appearing on the white side.
3. Certain parts with in the egg expand or shrink.
4. The brown side fades away.
5. And of course the fungus comes.
Also, some questions:
Have you had any successful eggs from the batch?
If so, do these eggs show similar development patterns to successful hatchlings? Many of my losses in later embryos are either ones which failed to hatch completely (and got stuck), or larvae that started developing slightly differently towards the end, not all newtlets are perfect.
