Strange dragons can be found lurking at the bottom of a lake in Mexico. Known as achoque salamanders, these mysterious amphibians are among the rarest in the world, found only in Lake Pátzcuaro. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Now, an ambitious new project has microchipped these creatures for the first time, making it easier to identify individuals. Something that really is much easier said than done when it comes to amphibians.

“Achoques are very difficult, perhaps impossible, to tell apart by sight alone,” said project lead Adam Bland, Assistant Team Manager for Amphibians at Chester Zoo, in a release emailed to IFLScience. “Working with the vets at Chester Zoo, we developed a way to quickly place a microchip under

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