Bloody Egg Sacs
Several pairs of egg sacs with pinkish coloration, shortly after being deposited in a breeding pond, in the salamander Hynobius nigrescens, inhabiting Sarukura, Hokujo, Hakuba-mura, Nagano Prefecture, Japan (photographed on 21 May 2006). This pinkish coloring was verified to be caused by blood, perhaps when a pair of egg sacs passed through the female's cloaca or when they were formed within her dilatable ovisacs, and occasionally occurred in this species. The pond contained 10 or more pairs of pinkish-colored egg sacs at the time of examination (water temperature = 7.6 C, water pH = 6.5).
Accompanied Research Collaborators (alphabetical order): Masaichi Kakegawa (Tokyo Metropolitan Komatsugawa Senior High School), and Fujio Kishi and Yuko Saikawa (Shirouma Association of Naturalists).
Copyright 2006 Masato Hasumi, Dr. Sci. All rights reserved.
| Top Page | | Japanese |