Tiger sal with extra arm

[t_summ]

A buddy of mine sent me these pictures of a tiger salamander he has... with 5 arms!!

I find this to be quite interesting and wanted to share it with the community. Enjoy.

 

[freves]

I saw that advertised on KS the other day. I kind of feel sorry for the poor thing. If it were mine I would have the extra limb amputated. I'm curious as to whether or not this defect was caused by environmental factors.
Chip

 

[Lasher]

I saw that advertised on KS the other day. I kind of feel sorry for the poor thing. If it were mine I would have the extra limb amputated. I'm curious as to whether or not this defect was caused by environmental factors.
Chip

I'm curious as to why you'd think such a thing. The animal appears healthy, doesnt seem to be degrading its quality of life in any way.

A fascinating specimen, does anyone know of anymore info around? The extra limbs appear to be quite developed, I wonder if its functional in any way?

 

[freves]

It in no way appears functional and that is why I would have it removed. Say for example if it had an extra functional head or tail then I certainly would leave it as be, however that extra limb almost appears to be "in the way" and probably serves no usefeul function whatsoever. Anyway, just my two cents. There certainly are many others who are sure to like it.
Chip

 

[flyangler18]

I actually collected an Ambystoma maculatum recently who has an extra foot, appears to be coming from just at the 'knee' joint. I'll have to haul out the camera and photograph it.

 

[t_summ]

The arm does move independently (he has witnessed this both in and out of water) and felt bone and tissue inside of the extra arm.

As far as environmental issues, who knows. It could be a number of things starting with genetics and ending with environmental factors.

I just think it's neat.

 

[natimus]

Hey Jason...does he look familiar? how are your little guys?

to all, I couldn't possibly amputate, he is in perfect health and quite a curious little bugger. i wouldn't feel right cutting any amphibian while it's alive

 

[flyangler18]

how are your little guys?

Doing quite well, Nate!

 

[John]

In amphibians, extra limb development is almost invariably caused by the right kind of cut/wound in the right place. I can certainly see that extra leg being a hindrance (and perhaps painful too) should that tiger burrow, which being a tiger it is likely to want. Grim as it might seem, Foster might be right, but at this point in its life it's probably too late in the Tiger's development.

On the lighter side, at least it can pat itself on the back....

 

[featherbutt]

mutant nazi tiger salamander!

 

[Jake]

In amphibians, extra limb development is almost invariably caused by the right kind of cut/wound in the right place.

I agree with that. I raised a group of axolotls two years ago and two of them grew two limbs in the place of one after regenerating arms that sibblings bit off. It really doesn't look like an environmental issue (like the flatworms causing frogs to have 8 legs!). I've also seen a few grow fingers out of their elbows.

It isn't extremely common though, so don't go and bite your salamanders' legs off to get them to grow two back!

 

[Littlelotl]

3 thumbs runs in my family my dad had his untill he was 13 it was functional and he had no problems writing etc he adapted. He had it amputated due to bullying and now has pain along the scare / in the hand due to nerve damage. We shouldnt judge an animal by our standards it has obviously adapted otherwise it wouldnt of reached adulthood (or its a pet in which case an extra limb doesn't matter) why risk making something worse just because its 'weird' I doubt he will be bullied by the other newt so Id leave it.

and no I am not a lucky 3 thumber

 

[oregon newt]

Wasn't there an experiment done with frogs exposed to UV light and they grew deformed limbs? Does that mean if I put a ReptiSun in my light, my newts will grow extra limbs? (I'm not planning on doing this though)

 

[Abrahm]

Wasn't there an experiment done with frogs exposed to UV light and they grew deformed limbs? Does that mean if I put a ReptiSun in my light, my newts will grow extra limbs? (I'm not planning on doing this though)

I doubt it. Without knowing the conditions of the experiment it's impossible to say. The light used was probably UVC, which is high energy and often used for germicidal bulbs. UVC can cause problems with DNA and fatal mutations in microbes. If I had to guess I would imagine tadpoles were exposed to UVC radiation and when they metamorphosed the extra limb mutations appeared.

 

[Jake]

Wasn't there an experiment done with frogs exposed to UV light and they grew deformed limbs? Does that mean if I put a ReptiSun in my light, my newts will grow extra limbs? (I'm not planning on doing this though)

There was an experiment done on farm run off and UV light. The parasitic flatworm Ribeiroia ondatrae lives the first part of it's life in a snail and when it's full sized it infects frogs (or their eggs, I'm not sure?) but when the frogs are infected they can grow deformed or extra limbs. Snails feed on algae and when lakes have a lot of fertilizer in them (washed off of fields) it causes algae to grow very quickly and then the snails reproduce faster and the higher concentration of snails means a higher concentration of the flatworms and that means a higher number of deformed frogs in the lake/pond.

Here's a link with a bit of information on it...
http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/amphibians/chapter7.html