Introduction:

Frog is a common amphibian animal which lives

both in water as well as land . It is commonly
found in or near ponds, river , ditches , well, lakes
mostly in shabby and moist areas. The frog was
historically used by many of the early embryology
investigators and currently there are many
different molecular mechanisms concerning frog
development. John Gurdon was awarded with
noble prize in medicine in the year of 2012 for his
experiments involving nuclear transplantation
with adult nuclei into frog eggs which is currently
used for the research.
The frogs generally breeds during rainy season.
During this period frogs move from land to water.
To attract the female ones the male frogs croak
with very high pitched sound. The pair stay
together until the female discharges eggs. The
female frog lays cluster of eggs which is known to
be as Spawn. The male frog immediately lays
sperms. Both the gamete undergoes fertilization.
In about a time of 12 hours , a tadpole larva
hatches from each egg. This tadpole is about
7mm long and has a tail which helps for its
locomotion and a three pair of gills for its
breathing.
The tadpole undergoes many changes in which
it loses some of its organ and undergoes further

Time Required (In

hours)

Process

Fertilisation of egg

4.5

Blastula stage

84

Tail bud stage

118

Early heart beat ,

development of gill
buds

140

Hatching of eggs

162

Opens mouth and

cornea becomes
transparent

192

Tail fin starts

circulation

216

Degeneration of
external gills

255

Larval stage is
prolonged ,
degeneration of few
organs

270

Development of hind
limbs and internal
development of
forelimbs

275

Projection of forelimbs

280

Absorption of tail

Materials required:
Preserved specimen of different stages of
frogs tadpole , notebook , pen.
Experimental Procedure:
Get the preserved specimen of different
developmental stages of a frog and carefully
observe the stages carefully. Note down your
observation in your notebook.
Observation:
1. Eggs:
A cluster of eggs are laid by the
female frog. Black dots that are observed in the
eggs are made up of bunch of cells . These eggs
eventually grow into a tadpole.
2. Tadpole:
Within few days the eggs laid will
develop into tadpoles. These tadpoles live only in
underwater. They are limbless and they dont have
a mouth,
and are
dark
in and
colour.
3.Tadpole
with
front
hind legs
After the hind legs have started to form, a
pair of front legs will begin to develop and the tail
will start to disappear. The tadpoles skull is made
out of cartilage but during metamorphosis, the
cartilage is replaced with bone.
The larva gets transformed into a fully developed
larva which swims actively in water. Its body is
similar to that of a fish. The body is divided into a
head and a tail provided with dorsal and ventral
fins. The head bears mouth with horny jaw at the
anterio-ventral end.

On the lateral sides of the head are present four

pairs of transverse slits known as a branchial
clefts. Rudimentary external gills are also present.
On either side is present a fold of skin known as
operculum. Which covers all the branchial clefts.
The rudimentary gills covered under the
operculum, gradually disappear in due course of
time. In the third stage of the life cycle, the
tadpole develops front legs and shortly thereafter,
back legs appear. This happens around the onemonth mark in many species but water
temperature and species variation affect the rate
of development. Cold water slows development
while warm water speeds development. A normal
water temperature range for frogs is 70-degrees
Fahrenheit. Some species transform in as little as
Froglet
one
week (or
withyoung
othersfrog)
taking months to develop.
when the tadpole reaches the froglet stage, it
is almost a full adult. At this point, the tadpoles
gills have disappeared, and its lungs have
enlarged. This means it is ready to leave the water
ans live on land. Once its tail disappears, it will
become an adult frog.
Adult
The tadpoles horny teeth, once used to tear
up plants, disappear and tongue muscles develop
to catch insects. The tadpoles large intestine,
important for digesting algae and plants, shrinks
to suit the frogs meat-eating diet.

For a short period of time, frogs retain their

tadpole tails while living on dry land. Eventually,
the tail will naturally fall off. Tail disappears, gills
are replaced by lungs. Hind limbs increases in
length and fore limbs develop. Mouth widens and
horny teeth disappear. The body becomes
pigmented. It become carnivorous and become a
full frog.
Result / conclution:
The important larval stages were
differenciated on the basis of age, size and
external morphological characters.