The axolotl is an amphibian very similar to the salamander, they have many characteristics that make them unique animals, among them, they can preserve the physical conditions of larvae in their adult state which allows them to look young for a long time.
And they are very resistant and can easily regenerate any part or organ of their body, their respiratory system is composed of several ways, mouth, gills, skin, and lungs.
But this breathing system of axolotl colors makes them more susceptible to contamination, which is why they are in danger of extinction, so nowadays these cute little animals can only live in controlled places.
The reason for Axolotl’s many color variations
The main reason for the axolotl colors is the cells that possess pigments capable of reflecting light, these cells are known as chromatophores, disperse their granules, the classification of these cells depends on the coloration of the pigments, and they can be:
- Eumelanin: is the pigment that produces the brown and blackish coloration of the chromatophore called melanophore.
- Pteridines: these are the yellow and reddish-colored pigments that produce the chromatophores known as xanthophores.
- Purines: these are organic compounds, which crystallize iridophores, organic compounds called purines that, when crystallized, produce an optical phenomenon where the light looks different from every angle you look at it and shows an almost crystalline appearance, iridescent, and bright, these are produced by chromatophores called iridophores.
Also, among the variations of axolotl colors we find the varieties of albinos, with shades that tend to be whitish or yellowish, these animals have red eyes. On the other hand, there are those of white color, known as leucistic. In these axolotls, the cells that produce the pigmentation do it in a normal way.
But when they are developing from the embryo, these cells fail to reach completely the whole embryo, producing white color and dark eyes.
Other axolotls lack the reflection-producing cells, i.e. iridophores show a coloration that tends to be dark or black and is called hypermelanistic.
15 Types of color and morphs of axolotls
There is a classification of axolotl colors, those of streams and those of lakes, dams, ponds, and aquariums, let’s see.
1. Ambystoma Altamirano
Known as mountain axolotls, they are characterized by having a very dark coloration throughout their body, which depends largely on the colors present in the existing environment at the bottom of the streams where they live.
They have a very peculiar color of pale yellow on their belly, also their whole body is dotted with non-uniform moles of a yellowish coloration.
Expert Tip: The color of this type of axolotl varies among populations and depending on the size of the animal, the sizes and shapes of its moles can be smaller or larger.
2. Ambystoma Bombypellum
This species is one of the rarest of axolotls, they have relatively small sizes that may not exceed 14 cm. Morphologically their front and hind legs lack membranes between their fingers, with a very flat head, and very smooth skin.
Its tail has a length that can match the rest of its body, laterally between its front and hind legs some undulations resemble rings that surround its trunk.
This axolotl is called thin-skinned, its body has a coloration that varies between brown and olive green, with irregular and yellowish spots, very sporadic on the body, and are accentuated towards the tail area. On its belly there is a lighter shade of color, becoming in some cases almost white.
3. Ambystoma Ordinarium
Called Michoacan salamander, it can reach 19 cm when they have reached adulthood, the head shape is flattened and narrow.
Although its color can vary according to the environment, usually have a dark coloration, ranging from black to greenish very bright throughout his body, with small circular yellowish spots that are distributed in rows along his body and its tail.
This salamander is one of those that manage to retain many characteristics of its larval stage, such as its coloration, also showing rows of yellow spots on its belly, and fins with mottling, also present, although sparsely, melanophores.
Which are distributed on its body in a uniform manner, which is responsible for the dark hue that characterizes them.
4. Ambystoma Rivulare
Called the brook salamander, this species is characterized by the variation in coloration and body shape between males and females, in terms of body length and width, body shape, and distance from the extremities. Females are smaller than males, while males have smaller eyes and cloaca orifices than females.
In general terms, their dorsal coloration tends to be dark, with a black and shiny color that lightens towards the ventral area, presenting irregular and dis-uniform spots with yellowish and shiny tones up to the top of the head and accentuated in the lower lateral areas and on the belly.
On the back, they have skin in the form of folds and have chromatophores of the melanocyte type, which originate their peculiar coloration, these animals, while living at higher altitudes have more folds and a greater amount of chromatophores.
5. Green Fluorescent Protein
This type of axolotl color is a laboratory-created species, its genes were modified with jellyfish protein, causing a green fluorescence effect when exposed to black, ultraviolet, or blue light producing an intensity of brightness that varies depending on the amount of pigment in the animal’s organism.
Created for research purposes in embryo transplantation and regeneration studies, this protein is known as GFP and has been used in microbiology, genetic and environmental engineering, as well as in physiology to observe processes that were invisible to the study of cancer cells.
The gene used in the experiments has become a recessive gene, which is transmitted through each generation.
Expert Tip: The creation in laboratories of this type of salamanders has turned them into highly coveted pets. However, there are many restrictions for their acquisition for fear that their release into natural environments may generate unknown problems.
6. Copper Salamander
Research has been the basis that generated new kinds of salamanders such as this type belonging to the albinos, its main feature is its red eyes, and lack of black pigments, so the tone of his body is a very light brown color that tends more to beige, and has a lot of amorphous spots of a darker brown color throughout the surface of his body.
As for its shape, the tail is not equal to the length of its body like other species, being of the same width of the torso, and has a kind of fin that starts from its neck and extends in the upper part of the body to the tail, in its gills it has filaments of a darker color than the rest of its body, which is more voluminous than other salamanders.
7. Melanoid or Black Axolotl
This kind of axolotl color is very similar to the dark-colored wild axolotls but has a higher concentration of eumelanin and lacks pteridines. So they do not have yellowish or golden coloration.
They are opaque black and do not have moles or spots on any part of their body, which presents in its lateral areas a kind of rings in the form of folds, and its upper area a fin that goes from the neck to the tail, its head tends to be more conical and rough in appearance.
8. Golden Albino Axolotl
This species has a crest on the upper part of the back that starts a little below the neck and extends to the tail, surrounding it on its upper and lower side, this crest has an almost transparent yellowish color.
Its body has a yellow coloration that tends to gold, hence its name, and its gills have a darker coloration that tends to orange, its eyes like all albinos are very clear, almost colorless, around its body there are a series of bright spots but without coloration, due to the absence of melanophores.
Because of its striking color, it is a favorite among exotic pet fanatics.
9. Axolotl Leucistic
The Axolotl leucistic has a white body tending to pink, the gills have an intense and bright red color, its eyes are dark in a navy blue. It has a transparent whitish crest that starts from its back and reaches the tail completely outlining it and revealing the center of it, which comes in a pointed shape to its end.
It is another coveted aquarium pet because of its exotic and rare appearance.
10. Axolotl Chimera
The Axolotl chimera is a very peculiar animal. It comes from two different eggs, which merge resulting in a specimen with two different sides, even causing each side to develop at different rates, for biological reasons is a very strange case, which occurs very rarely.
The appearance of a chimera is as if a white Axolotl and a black Axolotl were chopped lengthwise, and half of one was glued to half of the other, so the appearance of a chimera presents one side completely white, with some dark spots or spots and the other side completely dark.
The characteristics in the shape of the body of each side depend on the egg from which they come.
11. Axolotl Mosaic
In this species, there is also a result that comes from two cells, and the resulting individual obtains phenotypic characteristics of the two cells, for this reason, the appearance in the coloration of this axolotl is very combined.
Expert Tip: According to the cells that have formed the embryo, the body shape and coloration can be different between individuals of the same species.
Generally, they have a bulky body that if it is not well observed that it has legs, it looks like a giant worm, it is not observed ahead very different from the structure of its body.
As for the general coloration of the body, they have a grayish to greenish very spotted color, with irregular darker spots and in some cases whitish if the individual is dark. It has a fin very integrated to the body, which reaches its tail, which ends wider than its body, these specimens are sterile, lacking the ability to reproduce.
12. Ambystoma Andersoni
It is an axolotl color with a deep orange body covered with many black spots of different shapes, which are found throughout the length and breadth of its body. It is called the Achoque de Zacapu, a name that has been derived from the place where it lives Lake Zacapu, in the Michoacan Republic of Mexico.
The shape of its body is of a robust animal, has a short tail, and reaches up to 23 cm. The fingers are short and their forelimbs have membranes to the middle between their fingers, and the hind limbs to a little more than half.
They have a long snout, a flattened head, and a short tail, the lateral areas in the center of their body have grooves that look like rings that roll up their body, both females and males have similar morphological and coloration characteristics.
13. Ambystoma Dumerilii
This type of axolotl color has no morphological differences between females and males, or coloration. They can measure in adulthood up to 28 cm the head is wide and flattened.
They have a kind of rakes with tooth shapes that they use to feed by suction, they have a fin that goes from the neck to the tail, their gills are of very striking and dark color, almost purple.
The skin of the body has a rough appearance, a light brown and tan color, and very light homogeneous with a tendency to yellowish, the ventral area is whitish, both their hind legs and front legs have membranes between their fingers.
This species inhabits Lake Patzcuaro in Michoacan, for this reason, it is known as the Patzcuaro axolotl, they molt an outer part of the skin known as the stratum corneum and they do it continuously.
14. Ambystoma Granulosum
Individuals of this species of axolotl have a short tail, and unlike its relatives, it loses many of its larval characteristics as it grows, its body shape is taller and more compact, the head is larger, seen in profile it is more pronounced in the snout and has a triangular shape.
The limbs are longer, the coloration of its body becomes greenish on the sides, and with yellow and brownish tones, presenting dark spots along its body.
On the belly, the color is yellow, and without spots, the aspect of its skin is granular its gills are dark greenish with dark filaments, and its extremities do not have membranes between its fingers.
When they are in their larval stage, their color is green. Like many axolotls, they are bred in captivity to guarantee their subsistence and are used as exotic pets.
15. Enigma Axolotl
The Enigma axolotl is very rare to find, as only a few specimens of these characteristics are known to exist. It is believed to have been generated by chance between a cross of a wild axolotl and a golden albino.
It has a very grayish body coloration that tends to be green if you change the angle of vision and is adorned with golden spots with very bright spots. The shape of its head does not stand out as in other species and is almost the continuation of its body from its gills that come out filaments that tend to a pink hue.
It has a very grayish body coloration that tends to be green if you change the angle of vision and is adorned with golden spots with very bright spots. The shape of its head does not stand out as in other species and is almost the continuation of its body from its gills that come out filaments that tend to a pink hue.
Expert Tip: Its eyes are golden, the belly and the end of its legs are whitish, it has chromatophores that cause the pigmentation of its skin, and a good amount of iridophores in the form of crystallized purines, which give it the resplendent brightness of the golden spots.
We cannot breed Enigma Axolotls because we only know of one specimen, bred by pure chance at a pet breeder here in the United States, and I am almost certain that he had done everything possible to create others because they would surely have sold them expensive.
But apparently without success, because we have not seen many other Enigma axolotls. Among other chromatophores, it has melanophores in pigments such as eumelanin which produces brown and black, xanthophores in the form of carotenoids, and pteridines which are the pigments that generate yellow and red colors.
The Enigma Axolotl sometimes turns fluorescent green with very bright golden spots being a very attractive visual spectacle for those who are lucky enough to observe it. There have been many cases in recent years when this exotic pet has been sold for over $150.
In conclusion, axolotls are creatures that possess incredible biological characteristics, capable of regenerating even amputated limbs and injured organs, which have been useful for scientific research for the improvement of life.
They are animals with an unparalleled colorful and exotic appearance that cause attraction among pet lovers all over the world.
Unfortunately, they are a species at serious risk of extinction, which is why several captive protection programs are being carried out to prevent these special species from disappearing.
