Salamanders 'fish'

Mexican water salamanders have tails, dorsal fins, like fishes, but those that are pink on the big head are outside, fluttering like feathers. They have 4 legs with 4 normal fingers like other salamanders.

Water salamanders with bizarre shapes.Their mature body also retains the characteristics of the larval period including the fins that grow outside pink like hairs - Photo: National Geographic

The Mexican salamanders have very rare features on their bodies. They retain characteristics from the larval stage during adulthood. This condition is called neoteny - the larvae in mature individuals. The dorsal fins are like tadpoles, running along the length of the body and the gills that grow outside like the fur protruding from the back until the big head makes the water salamines become very strange .

Found at the Xochimilco lake cluster near Mexico City, water salamander is not the same as other salamanders. They live regularly in water environments. In rare cases, a water salamander when growing to adulthood can be separated from the aquatic environment but generally, they are content with living on the bottom of Lake Xochimilco and canals.

Species of salamanders are in danger of extinction - Photo: Pravda

As a close relative to the tiger salamanders, the water salamander seems to be larger. They can be up to 1 foot (30cm) long, although their average size is only half that. They may have distinctive black or brown stripes but usually water salamanders are albino or white.

Water salamanders live long, about 15 years old. They eat molluscs, worms, larvae of larvae, crab shrimp and some fish. Water salamander is the first carnivore in its habitat. But now they have to start to face the emergence of big fish in the lake environment. Their natural threat is carnivorous birds like herons.

The number of Mexican salamanders is declining as the discharge of wastewater from the neighborhood of Mexico City has made the water of Xochimilco Lake increasingly polluted. The water salamander also became the hunting target of the food industry. Rotary water salamanders are considered a delicacy in Mexico. This makes the water salamander species highly listed as endangered.