Neuse River Waterdog

• It never fully grows up: it keeps its feathery red external gills for life and does not complete metamorphosis, a phenomenon called obligate neoteny that it shares with the Mexican axolotl.
• The entire species lives in two river basins in a single American state, and depends on stretches with clean gravel beds under whose stones it shelters.
• Sediment from farming and construction clogs those gravel beds and removes its refuges, and is the chief cause of its decline.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (amphibian)

Habitat and environment

Rivers and streams of moderate current with gravel beds in the Neuse and Tar basins, in North Carolina

Sexual maturity

5 years

Gestation / incubation

60 days of incubation guarded by the male

Litter / clutch size

50 eggs

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List · Animal Diversity Web · Wikipedia (es)