The fluorescent green axolotl is just about the last thing we expected to see at a marine aquarium conference. We interrupt our MACNA 2015 product posting spree to bring you a curious aside about the most unlikely “product” to be scattered among all the fancy corals, controllable pumps and bright LED lights which dominated the MACNA show floor.
We call the Fluorescent Green Axolotl a product because this is one creature which is wholly unnatural, a genetically modified organism that never shows any fluorescence when encountered in the wild. The fluorescent green axolotl is a basic white or albino axolotl, which is also known as a mud puppy or lesser siren.
We found the fluorescent green axolotl to be completely fascinating in real life, not only because it was completely unexpected for a MACNA, but because this feat of biological technology was simply alone in a plastic cup, with no signage or explanation for its presence. As bizarre as this axolotl is, the fluorescent green amphibian (now) shares a lot with the corals we love so much, responding to bright blue LED lights with fluorescences that is pretty much no different than what we come to know and love from the infamous green slimer staghorn acro.
And now back to our regularly scheduled reef aquarium geekery . . .
