Crested newt: photos, interesting facts

The crested newt was first mentioned in the press by the famous Swiss naturalist K. Gesner in 1553. He called it a "water lizard". The first word "triton" for the genus of tailed amphibians was applied by I. Laurenti, an Austrian naturalist (1768).

External Features

The crested newt was named for its high crest, located on the back of the male. It differs from the ptoreal newt in size (it is much larger) and, of course, with a high, jagged crest. In combination with bright coloring, such features make the animal one of the most beautiful inhabitants of aquariums.

The maximum total length of the lizard is 153 mm (including the length of the body slightly more than 80 mm). In some European countries there are individuals up to 200 mm. The largest recorded weight is 14.3 grams.

The combed newt, whose photo often adorns the covers of magazines for aquarists, has a wide and flattened head, a massive trunk. Palatine teeth are two almost parallel rows.

On the back the skin is coarse, on the abdomen - smooth. In the mating period, the male crest is serrated, high, notched sharply apart from the tail. The tail may be slightly shorter, but more often equal to the length of the body. There are no barbs on the crest of the tail. The abdomen is colored orange or orange-yellow with black specks of color. The throat is black at the edges of the jaws and orange-yellow at the base.

Color

Numerous white small points can be clearly seen on the throat and on the sides of the body. In males, in the middle of the tail and its sides, there is a pearly or pale blue broad band. It begins with the base of the tail, where it represents a blurred line, and ends with a bright, well-marked border, at the tip.

The females do not have a crest on the back, and the blue strip on the sides of the tail is weakly visible or completely absent. Along the middle of the back, there is sometimes a narrow reddish or yellowish line. Eyes, as a rule, are golden-orange, with a black pupil. The fingertips are yellow or orange.

One circle of circulation has a comb-like newt?

This question is of interest to many novice aquarists. Let us dwell on it in more detail. The system of blood circulation of this lizard is closed, the heart is three-chambered. Blood is mixed in the ventricle (except for the lungless salamanders, whose heart is two-chambered). The temperature of the animal's body depends directly on the temperature of the surrounding air or water.

Has the peculiarities of the blood circulation of newt comb. Circle of circulation of the second is associated with the acquired possibility of pulmonary respiration. The heart has two atria (in the right blood, mainly venous, mixed, in the left - arterial) one ventricle, the walls of which form folds, which prevent mixing of arterial and venous blood. From the ventricle there is an arterial cone, which has a spiral valve.

Pulmonary is a small circle. It begins with the pulmonary-pulmonary arteries, which deliver blood to the lungs and skin. Blood, well enriched with oxygen, from the lungs is collected in the pulmonary paired veins that flow into the atrium (left).

A large circle begins with the arcs of the aorta and carotid arteries that are in the organs and tissues. Venous blood enters the right atrium through the pair of front veins and the unpaired posterior vein. In the hollow anterior veins, the oxidized blood also enters, therefore, the blood in the right atrium is mixed.

Type of digestion in crested newt

All amphibians, and the hero of our article, in particular, eat exclusively mobile fodder. At the bottom of their oropharynx is the tongue. On the jaws are the teeth that serve to hold the prey.

In the oropharyngeal cavity there are ducts of the salivary glands, the secret of which has no digestive enzymes. Then the food goes through the esophagus into the stomach, and then into the duodenum. These are the ducts of the pancreas and liver. Digestion occurs in the duodenum and stomach. The small intestine leads to the rectum.

Lifestyle in the wild

The crested newt, whose photo you see in our article, lives in small-leaved, mixed and broad-leaved forests, close to water bodies. Outside forests can live on open meadows, with small parts of bushes, floodplain sites of lakes and rivers, in swamps. A condition for the penetration of lizards into urban areas can be sufficiently deep (at least 0.5 m) uncontaminated water bodies with slowly flowing or standing water.

A comb-like newt leads a nocturnal life on land. And in the daytime he goes into the water. Most of the time he prefers to live on land. Only in the summer and spring during the mating season the water way of life conducts . Every ten days in the water the newt sheds. Skin discarded by it remains completely intact, but it is always turned inside out. This beautiful lizard does not like bright light, the sun, very badly tolerates heat. The newt floats, pressing the paws to the sides. He uses them as a helm. Progressive movement provides a tail.

Wintering and hibernation

For wintering, the crested newt leaves at the end of October or the beginning of November, when the air temperature does not exceed +6 ⁰ C. It is arranged in heaps of gravel, plant rags, on the upper marshes, in the cellars of apartment houses, in cracks in the soil, on railroad embankments. The newt hibernates alone, and in groups, sometimes even quite large clusters. From hibernation comes in March-May.

In the spring and early summer prefers to settle in forest lakes, ponds, starets. After breeding (in the middle of summer) passes to the land, where he finds for himself wet and shady places.

The most active on land in the twilight, in the water shows activity in the daytime. It tolerates low temperatures well - it is mobile at temperatures just above 0 ° С. In water it is active at a temperature from +5 to +28 ° С.

Content in captivity, feeding

For such a pet you will need a terrarium of a horizontal type. For 1-2 individuals, it should be a capacity of at least 20 liters.

Local terrestrial heating should be installed in the terrarium. At the point of warming in the daytime, the temperature should reach + 28 ° C, the average background temperature in the entire terrarium is 16-20 ° C at night and 18-22 ° C in the daytime. In the terrarium on the surface of the water must be a dam. You can keep these handsome in small groups.

We have already mentioned that under natural conditions this lizard feeds on aquatic invertebrates, somewhat larger than what its usual pond relative uses. And what feeds the combed newt at home? In the terrarium he is fed banana, brownies and other crickets, flour worms, cockroaches, mollusks, earthworms. In the water, you can give a bloodworm, snails, pipe.

Among feeds, preference should be given to mollusks, water beetles, insect larvae. Often the newt eats tadpoles and spawn amphibians. On land in the diet of your pets should include slugs, earthworms and various insects. The comb-like newt has a poor vision, so it can catch the prey that floats just next to it, and the newt can smell it.

Interesting features of the newt

This is a very interesting pet - a comb with a newt. Interesting facts about these lizards often publish publications about animals. It is noteworthy that the newt is able to change its color, like chameleons, but to a lesser extent.

We have already said that the newts see badly, so catching food for them is very difficult. They can not catch fast animals, therefore in natural conditions they often have to starve.

Interesting are the newts and their amazing ability to restore the lost parts of their body (regenerate). The limb, completely cut off from the newt, grows again. The naturalist Spalanzani conducted very cruel experiments on these animals. He cut off their tails, legs, gouged out his eyes, etc. As a result, all these parts were restored completely. Often this happened several times in a row. Blumenbach once cut out the whole of the newt's triton, leaving only one-fifth of it. Ten months later I was convinced that the newt had a new eye, although it differed from the former in a smaller size. The limbs and tail are usually restored to the same size as the lost ones.