apoptosis in action
Apr. 22nd, 2007 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
electricalgwenBaby frogs are amazingly cute.
We've been raising tadpoles, from a bunch of frog eggs scooped from a puddle in the park across the way, and have now had to take two small batches of completed frogs back to the park before they figure out how to climb/jump out of the stage II aquarium (stage I still has the ones that haven't got any legs yet.)
It's pretty amazing to watch an obligate water-breather transform into an obligate air-breather. But you know what's really weird?
The tadpoles in the stage immediately before they become frogs, are larger than the resulting frogs.
First we had these teeny weeny little black smudges, then they got to be bigger little black blobs with tails. They went on to grow bigger and less dark, getting interesting green/brown/gold colouration and swimming all over. Then they get back legs, then front legs... and eventually they become frog-shaped with tails, and finally the tail goes away. But it's as if the tadpoles are bags of jelly that condense into frogs - or rather, I think, that the excess cells die away and the shape of the frog within is revealed. Like a statue emerging as the bits of marble around it are chipped away. It's really quite neat.
The puddle we took the eggs from had dried up within a couple of weeks, when we first repatriated some of the tadpoles (some had to go back as tadpoles, due to crowding - I hadn't expected all the eggs to hatch and survive!), but we found a good place to release them. There are still a number of tadpoles yet to metamorphose, and it'll be fun to watch. But I miss "our" frogs. :(
In other animal-kingdom related news, two of our oldest fish died during the past month and have been replaced with a pair of pineapple swordtails (very cool) and a new black speckled molly who is likely to get named Gaius if it doesn't stop acting psychotic and reacting to reflections in the tank wall that aren't really there. *g*
Happy Earth Day!
We've been raising tadpoles, from a bunch of frog eggs scooped from a puddle in the park across the way, and have now had to take two small batches of completed frogs back to the park before they figure out how to climb/jump out of the stage II aquarium (stage I still has the ones that haven't got any legs yet.)
It's pretty amazing to watch an obligate water-breather transform into an obligate air-breather. But you know what's really weird?
The tadpoles in the stage immediately before they become frogs, are larger than the resulting frogs.
First we had these teeny weeny little black smudges, then they got to be bigger little black blobs with tails. They went on to grow bigger and less dark, getting interesting green/brown/gold colouration and swimming all over. Then they get back legs, then front legs... and eventually they become frog-shaped with tails, and finally the tail goes away. But it's as if the tadpoles are bags of jelly that condense into frogs - or rather, I think, that the excess cells die away and the shape of the frog within is revealed. Like a statue emerging as the bits of marble around it are chipped away. It's really quite neat.
The puddle we took the eggs from had dried up within a couple of weeks, when we first repatriated some of the tadpoles (some had to go back as tadpoles, due to crowding - I hadn't expected all the eggs to hatch and survive!), but we found a good place to release them. There are still a number of tadpoles yet to metamorphose, and it'll be fun to watch. But I miss "our" frogs. :(
In other animal-kingdom related news, two of our oldest fish died during the past month and have been replaced with a pair of pineapple swordtails (very cool) and a new black speckled molly who is likely to get named Gaius if it doesn't stop acting psychotic and reacting to reflections in the tank wall that aren't really there. *g*
Happy Earth Day!