Wild zigzag missing an eye

[Phiddipusaudax]

I live in middle TN and have been finding zigzag salamanders in my yard for the last decade or so- this is the first time I’ve ever seen one missing an eye. I can’t tell if it’s from an injury or something genetic/a birth defect. I don’t see any obvious scarring but this is definitely not my field of expertise.

If it is likely to be something genetic or potentially caused by pollution, should I remove it from the population? It’s a small patch of woods between backyards, fairly isolated but I have seen individuals crossing the road before so they can definitely travel. There’s a bit of trash from kids who play there but nothing that can’t be cleaned in say thirty minutes or so. It is downhill so there’s definitely runoff. Right now I have it in a little container with moss and leaf litter- and the patch of woods is small enough I can put it back under the exact rock without any trouble.
Hopefully I’m just being paranoid and it’s a regular injury, but I thought I’d see if anyone here could weigh in. This little local population means a lot to me.

(Apologies if I’ve done anything weird with formatting or where I’ve posted this- I’ve never interacted on any forum like this before)

 

[Autistic Catholic]

If it's wild, leave it alone. If it's genetic, all likelihood, the mutation won't last for long as natural selection will weed it out. If it's from an injury, then it cannot pass on any defect. If it's from pollution, I don't see how removing the specimen would cause reduction of pollution. Maybe clean up the trash instead.

 

[Phiddipusaudax]

If it's wild, leave it alone. If it's genetic, all likelihood, the mutation won't last for long as natural selection will weed it out. If it's from an injury, then it cannot pass on any defect. If it's from pollution, I don't see how removing the specimen would cause reduction of pollution. Maybe clean up the trash instead.

Well yeah it wouldn’t reduce pollution- what I meant to ask was if it was pollution caused, would it be beneficial to remove any affected individuals from the gene pool? Are pollution caused deformities something that can be passed down? I understand there’s no reason to interfere for a natural mutation, but if it was something human-caused it’s a little different.

I decided to go ahead and release it earlier today- a friend pointed out to me that if it was an injury, there might not be much evidence of scarring after successive sheds anyway. At this point I figure it may have sustained the injury very early in life- and it obviously hasn’t been impeded by it at all since it was a good size and otherwise healthy. I think I was just being a little paranoid, but if it’s something I end up seeing on multiple individuals then there might be cause for concern I guess.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

Pollution caused deformities are passed down epigenetically. Which means the only way to really eliminate pollution caused deformities is to eliminate pollution. It's like when Japan was nuked. For many years, radiation poisoning was passed down through pregnant mothers becoming affected by ongoing radiation. It's why expecting moms are ordered to regulate drinking as well as nursing moms. Because alcohol can have an epigenetic effect on the young. Epigenetics is not based on the gene pool but rather the environment.