Reproduction in the Axolotl is very unusual occurring during the larval stage of development. This happens because the Axolotl does not metamorphosize out of the larval form into adulthood. Sexual maturity in the Axolotls usually takes place between 6 months to a year. The females often take longer time to sexually mature than the males.
The natural breeding season of the axolotls is in the spring, due to the increase of water temperature and lengthening of days.
Fertilization is an internal process
that takes
place after the female comes in connect with a spermatophore. The male
Axolotls expels between 6 and 30 of these spermatophores around the water in
hopes of leading a female over the top of one. Fertilization occurs within
a few hours to a couple days, resulting in the female axolotls releasing
400-1000 eggs during spawning. The female Axolotls has the capability to
breed several times continually restarting the process after each successive
one. The egg of an Axolotl has visible feathery gills and a dorsal tail.
Hatching takes place two to three weeks after the female Axolotl releases the eggs onto plants. After hatching, some of the small axolotls will become a meal for the larger, more developed axolotls. This is their way of natural selection. The picture to the right shows an albino female attaching her eggs onto a plant leaf.