The official portal "Wild Nature of Russia" reported that Russian scientists managed to solve the riddle of the reproduction of the Ussuri clawed newt, which existed for more than a hundred years since the description of the species.
For a long time it was unknown where the Red Book Ussuri clawed newt lays eggs and where its larvae live in the early stages of development. This species lives exclusively in the southern Sikhote-Alin.
"As a result of numerous studies conducted in 2023, employees of the Biodiversity Conservation Center discovered a permanent mass breeding site for the Ussuri clawed newt - 72 clutches of eggs were found in the water, under a layer of gravel about 0.4 meters thick," - the message says.
Russian and Soviet scientists have been walking towards this discovery for several decades. For a long time, research did not bring results. The specialists decided to look for caviar underground, inspired by the experience of their Japanese colleagues.
The relatives of the Ussuri clawed newt are the Japanese clawed newts. About 70 years ago, Japanese scientists discovered clutches of its eggs underground, in a layer of pebbles at the bottom of the upper reaches of mountain rivers. They found out that caviar develops there for about 150 days, and then the larvae lead an underground lifestyle for a couple more months.
Now Russian specialists will have to conduct year-round monitoring of the spawning ground located on the territory of the Verkhneussuriysky stationary of the Biodiversity Conservation Center of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This work will help to answer the remaining questions.
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