ˈaksəˌläd. ə l, -ät ə l noun
( -s )
Etymology: Nahuatl, literally, water doll, toy, from atl water + xolotl doll, toy, mythological personality
: any of several larval salamanders of the genus Ambystoma (as A. tigrinum ) found in the mountain lakes of Mexico and the western United States ordinarily living and breeding in the larval condition but being capable when the pond it inhabits dries up of gradually losing the gills and fins while beginning to breathe air at the surface and of eventually emerging as an adult salamander — compare neoteny ; see siredon