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CRYPTOBRANCHUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 565 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CRYPTOBRANCHUS , a genus of thoroughly aquatic, but See also:

lung-breathing tailed See also:Batrachia, of the See also:family Amphiumidae, characterized by a heavy, flattened build, a very porous tubercular skin, with a frilled See also:fold along each See also:side, See also:short stout limbs with four very short fingers and five very short toes, and See also:minute eyes without lids. The vertebrae are biconcave, and although the gills are lost in the adult, ossified gill-See also:arches, two to four in number, persist. A strong See also:series of vomerine See also:teeth extends across the See also:palate. Three See also:species of this genus are known. One is the well-known fossil of Oeningen first described as Homo diluvii testis and shown by See also:Cuvier to be nearly related to the gigantic See also:salamander of See also:Japan, Cry ptobranchus See also:maximus, which has since been found to inhabit See also:China also; the third is the hellbender, mud-puppy or See also:water-See also:dog of See also:North See also:America, C. alleghaniensis, also known under the name of Menopoma. Both the fossil C. scheuchzeri and C. maximus grow to a length of over 5 ft. and are by far the largest Urodeles known, whilst C. alleghaniensis reaches the respectable length of 18 in. The eggs are laid in See also:rosary-like strings. They have been found, in Japan, deposited in deep holes in the water, where they See also:form large clumps (70 to 8o eggs) See also:round which the See also:female coils herself. The gigantic salamander has also bred in the See also:Amsterdam zoological gardens, the eggs numbering upwards of Soo; the male, it is stated, took See also:charge of the eggs, and for the ten See also:weeks which elapsed before the See also:release of the last larva, he kept See also:close to them, at times crawling among the coiled See also:mass of See also:egg-strings or lifting them up, evidently for the purpose of aeration. The larva on leaving the egg is about an See also:inch See also:long, provided with three branched See also:external gills on each side, and showing See also:mere rudiments of the four limbs.

End of Article: CRYPTOBRANCHUS

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