Definition of "axolotl" [ax•o•lotl]

• Any of several salamanders (genus Ambystoma) native to Mexico and the western United States that, unlike most amphibians, often retain their external gills and become sexually mature without undergoing metamorphosis. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But this eye is by no means as developed as the organ of vision, for instance, of the water salamander (the triton) or of the so-called axolotl, for it exists only in a kind of embryonic development, and contains neither a vitreous humor nor a lens for the refraction of the rays of light."
• "Among the world's varied creatures, a Mexican salamander called the axolotl appears best at regrowing whole limbs lost to injury."
• ""The axolotl is the champion of vertebrate regeneration, with the ability to replace whole limbs and even parts of its central nervous system," says Edward Scott, Ph. D., principal investigator for the grant and director of the McKnight Brain Institute's program in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine."