Triturus dobrogicus- Developing larvae

[terry]

As for Triturus dobrogicus, I've decided to close off the other thread and start off a new one emphasising on the development of the larvae
Here is a brief series of how one larva develops in an egg:

Here is the larva as of yesterday.

The larvae has been developing fine and has shown a lot of activity within the egg-sac. It's sibling is also developing well:

I have decided not to do anything with the eggs as I have done with T. pygmaeus as I wanted to see if it is indeed temperature which triggers off hatching. I'm monitoring temperature day by day from morning to evening and will record the temperature once more at the time of hatching. I'll keep you all posted.

One more thing! Why hasn't anybody posted larvae of T dobrogicus before? I am sure there are a lot of breeders out there breeding this species! The only larvae pics which crop up are of otherTriturus species!

 

[TJ]

Cool pictures, Terry

 

[terry]

Thanks Tim!
I would most certainly say the same to your pictures which in many ways surpass mine!
Ah but there are pictures, and there are pictures...

 

[terry]

I transferred the larvae and remaining eggs to a more suitable container so they are not over crowded. Some of the larvae have hatched today!

Plants were placed into the containers after this shot was taken. Had to exclude the plants as they obscured the view.


Here is the larva depicted in previous posts, finally hatched. I missed how it wriggled out of its egg though:

 

[alex]

Hello Terry, I sure do hope a lot of other breeders rear dobrogicus. It's a magnificent species. Even if not all dobrogicus show the rich colouration of your male. I fear to often the breeders consider it not important or interesting enough to make, let alone publicise, pictures of the species they rear. Maybe because they reckon if it would be interesting others would have done it before. Or the species breeds to readily to be of any interest. Anyway I'm glad you are sharing and I'm looking forward to the next pictures. Keep up the good work.

 

[terry]

Hello Alex,

I bid you a warm welcome to the group!

Thank you very much for your reaction. As they say in dutch "Ik voel me heel vereerd met dit complimet". Before I joined the forum, I have been doing some research about Triturus and dobrogicus has been mentioned and indeed documented, but not much. mainly from a scientific point of view but not often from a layman's point of view. Perhaps, like you said the species is overlooked due to its apparent "popularity" or everyone is so familiar with it they feel that there is no real need to document the species any further. The colouration of my male is a surprise to me and I did not expect the male to turn out so bright. It has not been with me long. Nevertheless it was the only available candidate at the time when I needed a male for photography and study. I was beginning to wonder if this race of dobrogicus is T d. macrosoma. Something for me to look into when the time comes.

I will most certainly update this thread with every new development which occurs in regards to this species. My hopes is that when all things are said and done, there will at least be a visual record/ documentation of T. dobrogicus in captivity...then again, by a layman.

Regards and greetings,
Terry

 

[joseph]

Great photos! They look almost identical to the T. karelinii larvae I hatched out but that should be pretty obvious.

It will be interesting to observe dobros and marms develop side by side. Who is bigger as of now?

 

[terry]

Hello joseph,
Currently the pygmies are larger than the danubes. But of course this is due to the difference times in hatching. Upon hatching however, the pygmies are somewhat larger than the danube larvae. Surprising because the adults of the danubes are larger than the pygmies

 

[terry]

A brief update:

I typed something earlier but my browser crashed!

These are the larvae as of today. What you cannot see clearly in this picture is that the larva/larvae are swimming in a small sea of baby daphnia and cyclops:

Here is a larva which I found hiding in the parent tank! The adults seemed to take no notice in the tiny larva. I removed it and placed it in the nursery.

p.s. I found more larvae hiding between the Elodea leaves and some sticking to the filter. I feel like such a bad foster parent

(Message edited by terryschild on November 23, 2005)

 

[terry]

I found another larva in the adult tank. The adults seemed to have left it alone but then again maybe they did not noticed it. Here is a rather bad photo of it.

If you look closely you can see one of the balancers of the larva.

 

[simon]

There's a lot of really cool pics here Terry

It's almost like i'm watching them grow myself.Keep 'em coming!

 

[john]

Yes, please keep them pictures coming. You and tim have the most amazing pix..

~John

 

[TJ]

Thanks John.

Terry, how're those larvae coming along? I'm really interested in this species after seeing your pictures.

And that truly amazing photo-of-the-month picture taken by Juraj (at http://www.caudata.org/cc/photoofthemonth/PM0512.large.jpg) has really won me over to this species. Amazing animals!

 

[rene]

tim that picture on the link
looks to me karellini

tery nice photo's

 

[TJ]

Hi Rene,

I wouldn't know, but the caption for that photo says it's T. dobrogicus:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/

 

[rene]

hi tim

here in holland are some people with the same form they came from a lake in turkey

dobrogicus is more orange or lighter
gr. rene

 

[wouter]

Hi all, those are definitly T. dobrogicus, look at the belly pattern and long body. Also, Juraj caught them himself, so we've got location data!

The animals you mean Rene came from the Abant Lake. They had a really different belly pattern, and where much shorter build.

 

[rene]

I dind't see the belly of that animals only the breeding dress and the color

 

[terry]

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Tim wrote on Sunday, 18 December, 2005 - 15:20 :</font>

"Terry, how're those larvae coming along? I'm really interested in this species after seeing your pictures. "<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

Hello Tim and everyone.
The dobrogicus larvae have grown a great deal but I have not had sufficient time of late to photograph their progress. Some larvae already posses their fore-legs and they seem to be paler in comparison to my pygmy newt larvae.

Here is a picture from the top of one of the larger larvae. The poor daylight in winter is making it difficult to produce clear photos. This is the best closeup I could come up with.

 

[terry]

Finally! new updates.
The dobro larvae have grown since my last posting! They are even beginning to take on some adult pigmentation! This larva shows pigmentation covering half its body.

Here is a shot of another larva. The tail fins appear wavier than other triturus larvae.

The parents are now resting amidst the mossy cushions in a cool room for the winter while the larvae occupy their tank. Since then, more new larvae have emerged from eggs unaccounted for and develop alongside the maturing larvae. During the nights, the larger larvae show no interest whatsoever to their developing siblings. I have not lost a single newly hatched larva to these maturing ones. They are more content with the bloodworms and tubifex.