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frog
eggs 14-15 days old
actual froglet size: 6 mm |
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| froglet
< 1 hour old |
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| adult
coqui frog |
Coqui frogs belong to a genus of frogs that do not have a
tadpole stage and therefore do not require a body of water
to reproduce. Instead, the female lays the eggs on damp moss
or leaf litter, or inside a rolled or folded leaf, and the
eggs are brooded by the male, who keeps them moist until they
hatch.
At first, the eggs look white to off-white and opaque, about
the size of large tapioca pearls. As they mature, the eggs
enlarge, darken and become transparent, resembling papaya
seeds, with the frog embryo visible inside. When the tiny
froglets hatch in 14-17 days, they are about ¼ inch
(5 mm) long.
In its native Puerto Rico, the female coqui frog usually lays
a cluster or clutch of 34-75 eggs four to six times a year;
however, under laboratory conditions in Hawai`i, mating pairs
produce a clutch every 2½ weeks without loss of fertility
– that’s 26 clutches a year, or more than 1,400
eggs per female per year! It takes about 8 months for froglets
to mature. Adult coqui frogs may live as long as 4-6 years.
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| VIDEO CLIP: coqui
froglet hatching from egg |
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