According to a new study a small cave salamander named “human fish” has just broken the world record for the longest living amphibian. The salamander is named human fish since it contains human like skin tone.
Generally the salamanders have a maximum life span of 100 years which is nearly the double of other amphibian’s namely Japanese giant salamander – 55 years, African bullfrog – 45 years, European toad – 40 years and the mudpuppy – 34 years.
According to the author the human fish is longest living species among other amphibians. Researchers from Claude Bernard Lyon University studied on the lifespan of the species living in the Moulis cave.
In researching the lifespan of the cave salamanders they found that the human species became sexually matured at the age of 16 and lays around 35 eggs every 12.5 years. They have found that the reason for the human fish long life is due to the low reproduction rate, low activity; they have no environmental stress and their unusual physiology.
The researches describe the human fish as having snake like body which is 16 inches long. The human fish is blind and its eyes are covered with a layer of skin. The human fish seems to look like a unisex creature. The species gets oxygen through the non-pigmented skin.
The main difference between the male and the females is that the male has a thicker cloaca then the females.
The previous record holder for the longest living amphibians was the Japanese giant salamander and it is also the second largest salamander in the world which grown nearly to 5 feet and weights about 55 pounds.