Aquatic Caecilian Birth

Check out this uncommon video of an aquatic caecilian, Typhlonectes natans, giving birth at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. On this particular day, the mother had already given birth to two siblings to the newborn shown. You'll see the large, external gills of these amazing creatures. These animals are sometimes referred to as "rubber eels," however they are amphibians. Watch for a surprise ending to this video.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• aquatic caecilian
• Typhlonectes natans
• amphibian
• rare video
• Tennessee Aquarium
• Chattanooga
• surinam toad
• Pipa pipa
• rubber eel

[donkmeister]

Awesome video!

As a latin speaker I must be a pedant though... caecilian is pronounced with hard c's, i.e. "kie-kill-ian"... it's from the latin caecilia...

[TennesseeAquarium]

Thanks for the comment. Latin is Greek to me. :)

[adiuvame]

That's quite cool. The gills on the baby caecillian looks a bit like a floofy ribbon ;)

I was under the impression that the majority of amphibians lay eggs, are there others that give live birth like the caecillian?

[TennesseeAquarium]

adiuvame: Thanks for the question. According to one of our herpetologists, there is one genus of toad (Nectophrynoides), a salamander (Salalamandra atra) and several caecilian species that give live birth.

[TennesseeAquarium]

ladensparrow: The aquatic caecilians will appear larger and have lumps inside their bellies when they are pregnant. The Surinam Toads do not like the taste of the caecilians so they don't actually consume them. (Although they tried in the video.) Thanks for the great question.

[RN4fostercare]

why are your toads so hungry?

[LordExarKun]

Could you tell me the name of the music piece?

[LordExarKun]

Nice video! My city zoo/aquariums should post videos too...

[aznboi11218]

Amazing!!

[Tyranachu]

BAD TOAD! >:(

[CalgarySandy]

Sorry. I hit the wrong thumb. This post is correct - speaking as a pedant and linguist.

[postfachanja]

Hello! Greetings from Germany! Sorry about my bad English!! :o)

Personality we have more than 15 of this animals and I know them very good. But I don´t unterstand,why you let them stay with this frogs?If they get hurt or would be eaten,you loose your animal - and you loose money, because this animals costs a lot! Please be care with this specially animals!