Has Mexico's Salamander-Like 'Water Monster' Gone Extinct? (Video)

A salamander-like axolotl, otherwise known as Mexico's "water monster," may have unfortunately gone extinct due to its diminishing natural habitat in Mexico City's lakes.

According to Earth Space News, the creature's only habitat is in the wild of Lake Xochimilco. As the lake and area struggles with heavy pollution and an expanding urban environment, many scientists fear that the animals are indeed dying out.

National Geographic notes that creatures could potentially grow up to a foot long, each with four stubby legs that help them get around along the bottom of Xoxhimilco's murky channels. While in the water, they feed on aquatic insects as well as smalls crustaceans. Yet untreated sewage hitting the water has created a dangerous environment for them.

According to biologist Armando Tovar Gazar of Mexico's National Autonomous University, a 4-month effort was made to try and net many of the axolotls from shallow, muddy waters and bring them into safe harbor. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful.

The Mexican Academy of Sciences said in a statement that a 1998 survey found an average of 6,000 axolotls per square kilometer, a figure that dropped to 1,000 in a 2003 study, and 100 in a 2008 survey. Millions once lived in the giant lakes next to which Mexico City was built.

The searches "on almost all the canals have to be repeated, because now we are in the cold season, with lower temperatures, and that is when we ought to have more success with the axolotls, because it is when they breed," Garza added, via The Guardian.

Researchers said they are hoping to try another rescue mission in search of the animals as early as February.

Want to see these guys in action? Check out this video, courtesy of YouTube.