Taylor's Salamander

Taylor's salamander is a mole salamander found only in Laguna Alchichica, a high altitude crater lake at 2,290 meters near Perote, Mexico, formally described in 1982 though known to science earlier. It typically reaches about 70 millimeters at maturity, with the largest specimens 102 to 113 millimeters snout to vent, pale yellowish with dark spots on the back, short thick gill stalks, a large head, and underdeveloped limbs. As a neotenic species it keeps its tail fin and external gills into adulthood without completing metamorphosis, living entirely in the lake's brackish, alkaline water at a salinity of 9.2 grams per liter, pH 8.5 to 10, and 18 to 21 degrees Celsius, sheltering below overhangs along the crater's edge and feeding by suction on an omnivorous diet. It is critically endangered because rising lake salinity from water extraction and falling water levels threaten its only habitat, and captive breeding programs have been recommended to prevent its extinction.