Lab Activity I

METAMORPHOSIS OF FROG

Day : Thursday
Date : 15th November 2018

Name : Devina Alifah

Student ID : B1B017010
Group : 2
Subgroup : VII
Assistant : Monica Widianti

LABORATORY OF ANIMAL STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT

FACULTY OF BIOLOGY
JENDERAL SOEDIRMAN UNIVERSITY
PURWOKERTO

2018
 I. INTRODUCTION

A. Aims

The aims of this practical is to know the structure of aquatic larvae/ tadpoles
body and the changes that happened during metamorphosis of amphibian larvae
become terrestrial adult frog.

B. Benefits

The benefits of this practical class is increasing our knowledge about frog
metamorphosis.

1
 II. MATERIALS AND WORK PROCEDURES

A. Materials

The tools that used in this lab are container, millimeter block, loope, label paper
and camera.
The materials that used in this practical class are tadpole in tail bud stages, tap
water and spinach leaf (boiled).

B. Work Procedures

The work procedures that used in this practical class are :

1. The same size tadpoles in tail bud stadium are prepared as many as 10.
2. Total length, caudal length, and head width are measured.
3. The tadpoles are taken and the water is changed every 2 days and fed with boiled
spinach every 2 days.
4. Total length, caudal length, and head width are measured every 7 days for 2
weeks.
5. Limb budding and ventral pigmentation are observed.
6. The tadpoles are photographed.

2
 III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

A. Result
Table 1. Observation Data of Tadpoles Measurement
Tadpole measurement Day- (mm)
Tadpoles 0 7 14
TL CL HW TL CL HW TL CL HW
1 20 13 5 20 12 4 22 12 5
2 23 14 5 21 14 5 21 12 5
3 24 15 5 25 17 6 18 11 4
4 25 14 6 20 11 4 19 12 5
5 22 13 5 22 12 5 25 15 5
6 23 13 4 20 11 5 19 12 4
7 24 13 5 24 15 5 26 17 4
8 21 13 5 20 12 4 20 13 4
9 20 12 5 25 17 5 22 13 5
10 22 13 5 21 13 5 21 13 5
Average 22.4 13.3 5 21.8 13.4 4.8 21.3 13 4.6
Note:
TL : Total Length
CL : Caudal length
HW : Head width
Table 2. Observation Data of Tadpoles Development
Observation day-
Parameter
0 7th 14th
10 tadpoles 10 tadpoles 10 tadpoles
Locomotion
moving with tail moving with tail moving with tail

Intestine
10 tadpoles have 10 tadpoles have 10 tadpoles have
“Ventral
pigment pigment pigment
Pigmentation”

Anterior membra
- - -
Budding
Posterior membra 2 tadpoles have 2 tadpoles have
-
Budding membrane membrane
Figure 1. Tadpoles Metamorphosis

3
 Day-0 Day-7

Day-14

4
 B. Discussion

Metamorphosis is a change in morphology, physiology, biochemistry,

and behavior of an organism (Rahman& Kurniawan, 2014). Metamorphosis
occurs during the transition between life cycle stages in a wide range of animal
taxa and is manifested as changed external morphology together with
modifications in physiology, behavior, habitat, and diet (Liu et al., 2017).
Metamorphosis is physical changes that occur due to cell growth and cell
differentiation or processes seen in multicellular organisms that are radically
different (Wahyudi et al., 2018).
According to Kimball (1992), metamorphic changes occur through
three stages, including premetamorphosis, prometamorphosis, metamorphosis
climax. Premetamorphosis, namely the growth of larvae is very dominant.
Prometamorphosis, growth continues and some developments change as it
starts to appear the posterior membrane. Climatic metamorphic, the beginning
with development of anterior membrane and the period of dramatically and
broadly changes in morphology and physiology. Based on the observation that
we obtain, our final frog metamorphosis result is prometamorphosis because
we found anterior membrane and posterior membrane have appeared.
The initial cycle of metamorphosis starts from an adult female frog
laying eggs, then the egg will hatch after 10 days. The frog eggs hatch into
tadpoles. Tadpoles have hairy outer gills to breathe, after 2 days of age.
Tadpole gills will be covered by skin after 3 weeks of age. The hind legs will
form, then enlarge when the front legs begin to appear towards the age of 8
weeks. After 12 weeks old, front legs starts to form, while the tail becomes
short and breathes with lungs. The frog will turn into an adult frog after its
limb growth perfectly (Kimball, 1992)
According to Huet (1971), factors that influence metamorphosis can be
distinguished into external and internal factors. External factors include
environmental factors including water quality, the presence of parasites and the
amount of feed available. In anurans, the onset of metamorphosis is highly
conditioned by environmental cues that serve as a trigger for metamorphosis if
conditions are appropriate (Campinho et al., 2015). Internal factors include
differences in age, ability to adapt to the environment and the presence of

5
 disease resistance. Amphibian larvae exhibit phenotypic flexibility in growth
and development rate in response to different environmental factors and to the
presence of stressors (i.e. osmotic or thermal stress, food level, habitat
desiccation, larval density, competitors or predators and presence of pollutants)
(Bernabò et al., 2016).

6
 IV. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion

Based on the result and discussion, it can be concluded that frogs

undergoes metamorphic development which is starting from the egg, then
becoming tadpoles, then becoming tailed frogs, then becoming adult frogs.

B. Suggestion

Suggestions for this practical is we should be more diligent to check the

tadpoles container and do not forget to feed the tadpoles.

7
 REFERENCES

Kimball, T. 1992. Biologi. Jakarta: Erlangga.

Huet, M. 1971. Text Book of Fish Culture Breeding and Cultivation of Fish. Surrey:
Fishing News Books Ltd.

Campinho, M, A., Silva, N., Roman-Padilla, J., Ponce, M., Manchado, M., & Power, D,
M., 2015. Flatfish metamorphosis: A hypothalamic independent process?
Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 404, pp. 16–25.

Bernabò, I., Guardia, A., Macirella, R., Sesti, S., Crescente, A., & Brunelli, E., 2016.
Effects of long-term exposure to two fungicides, pyrimethanil and tebuconazole,
on survival and life history traits of Italian tree frog (Hyla intermedia). Aquatic
Toxicology, 172,pp. 56–66.

Liu, Y., Wei, M., Guo, H., Shao, C., Meng, L., Xu, W., & Chen, S., 2017. Locus
Mapping, Molecular Cloning, and Expression Analysis of rps6kb2, a Novel
Metamorphosis-Related Gene in Chinese Tongue Sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis).
Marine Biotechnology, 19(5), 497–516.

Rahman, L., & Kurniawan, N., 2014. Pengaruh Perlakuan Larutan Yodium Dengan
Dosis dan Lama Pendedahan yang Berbeda Terhadap Laju Metamorfosis dan
Kelangsungan Hidup Berudu katak Lembu (Rana catesbeiana Shaw). Jurnal
Biotropika, 2(3), pp. 154-158.

Wahyudi, A, K., Mewo, F, F., & Ganda, S., 2018. Perangkat Visualisasi Metamorfosis
Kupu- Kupu Menggunakan Animated Augmented Reality. STMIK Pontianak
Online Journal, 8(1), pp. 1-12.