Arrival of axolotls to the islands

Axolotls arrived to the islands in 1743, when a hurricane from New Spain that had crossed Lake Chalco picked up a water-filled hollow tree carrying some axolotls. The axolotls somehow survived the roughly 6,000 mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean, the tree landed in what was at the time Lake Sîrvìdad (Lake Axolin).

One report from a European stupidly fishing on the lake during the storm reported seeing “multiple baby salamanders fell from the storm clouds and struck me vessel, I could tell they were babies because they still had their gills.”

Shortly after, some Spanish colonists from New Spain identified them as axolotls.

The axolotls quickly incorporated into the ecosystems of the island’s lakes and streams by replacing the open niches of the nearly extinct from overfishing dogfish.