The frog with no lungs



lungless_frog_150

A lungless frog? Sounds like a joke:

I say, I say I say, my frog has no lungs.

How does it breath?

Glad you asked. Read on:

“The first lungless frog has been discovered lurking in the jungles of Borneo.

The enigmatic amphibian, dubbed Barbourula kalimantanensis, apparently gets all the oxygen it needs through its skin.

Scientists first saw one of these frogs 30 years ago, but due to their rarity, just one other specimen had been collected since then and neither had been dissected.

“No one thought to open them up — there was no real reason to believe that they could be lungless,” said researcher David Bickford, an evolutionary biologist at the National University of Singapore.

…

The loss of lungs has been known to occur two other times in all the creatures with backbones that have waddled onto land across geologic time. Each time this loss has happened in amphibians — in a species of caecilian, a limbless beast resembling an earthworm, and in many species of salamanders. How and why this change evolved in these animals has been long debated, and the new frog could shed light on this curious phenomenon.”

Link - via The Anomalist


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Posted on April 9, 2008 at 7:31 pm by Emperor
Category: Animal

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17 comments to "The frog with no lungs"

  • Andrew32
    April 9th, 2008 at 7:48 pm

    “just one other specimen had been collected since then and neither had been dissected.”

    soo…. are you sure they have no lungs?

    lol, interesting concept though.

  • Chris
    April 9th, 2008 at 8:05 pm

    Are they good to eat?

    (Frog dissection in biology class : such good memories ;) )

  • NeuroGirl
    April 9th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

    Good stuff. I’d like to see pictures from the dissection, but it doesn’t look like they’re available

  • bean
    April 9th, 2008 at 9:44 pm

    The Latin name reminds me of Barbarella, but I’m assuming that’s sheer coincidence.

  • Thomas
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

    @ andrew — I’m pretty sure if you’ve dissected one, you’ve dissected them all. For a species to be discovered to have no lungs today, doesn’t mean that they just got that way yesterday.

  • the robot child
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:39 pm

    All frogs breath through both lungs and skin so it’s interesting to see this lesser evolved species.

  • Stella
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    My god!!! I finally understand why I flunked bio so many years ago. The from i dissected was a freak and had no lungs.

    Stella

  • NeuroGirl
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    @ the robot child: I wouldn’t necessarily say that they are “less” evolved. Their evolution shows unique physiological adaptations to their very specific environment. People generally think of pool ventilation, lung breathing, as being a marker of higher evolution, but it’s not actually the most efficient method of respiration.

  • the robot child
    April 9th, 2008 at 11:13 pm

    @NeuroGirl: Point taken but as soon as they’re removed from a damp environment it would pretty much be the end for this Boreno frog would it not?

  • Thespian24601
    April 10th, 2008 at 12:59 am

    My science teacher would be so happy to see this news. He’s obsessed with conservation, and every time we go camping, he makes us attempt to identify animals based on their call.

  • bean
    April 10th, 2008 at 6:11 am

    Heh. Do you go “camping” with your science teacher a lot?

  • su.wei
    April 10th, 2008 at 7:11 am

    crazy! ive heard of this in smaller animals. but i know that the ratio of surface area to total body is a limiting factor. i wonder if it’s an issue for these frogs. and if so, how they compensate for it.
    oOoOooo o_0

  • NeuroGirl
    April 10th, 2008 at 8:59 am

    @the robot child: Yes, but not necessarily because of the most obvious seeming answer. While cold water has a higher dissolved oxygen content than warm water, both are still markedly lower than the oxygen content of air. Obviously, the frog has found ways to increase his rate of oxygen uptake (increased surface-to-volume ratio, thinner diffusion barrier, decreased blood flow rate, more capillaries, etc). If you’ve ever pithed a frog, you know that they live for hours in dry environments, even after their lungs have been disabled. The problem with removing the frog from the damp environment is that the skin is not exclusively a respiration organ. In frogs, water contact is used to maintain ionic concentrations and the resulting gradients, remove metabolic waste products from the body, and perform a variety of other functions. Not that anybody here really cares that much about cutaneous respiration…

  • someguy
    April 10th, 2008 at 11:25 am

    What evidence is there that there was a “loss” of the lungs. Who says they ever had lungs?

  • CheeseDuck
    April 10th, 2008 at 2:29 pm

    Is it like an insect?

  • Alannah
    April 11th, 2008 at 1:05 am

    I thought all frogs breathed through the skin. I thought that was why they were such good bioindicators.

  • Submit Comment
    April 13th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    This is truly amazing. If we could use this frog. To learn to adapt. We could live on the moon! Or better yet. In the moon!

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Neatorama » Blog Archive » The frog with no lungs
   
     
   
   

The frog with no lungs



lungless_frog_150

A lungless frog? Sounds like a joke:

I say, I say I say, my frog has no lungs.

How does it breath?

Glad you asked. Read on:

“The first lungless frog has been discovered lurking in the jungles of Borneo.

The enigmatic amphibian, dubbed Barbourula kalimantanensis, apparently gets all the oxygen it needs through its skin.

Scientists first saw one of these frogs 30 years ago, but due to their rarity, just one other specimen had been collected since then and neither had been dissected.

“No one thought to open them up — there was no real reason to believe that they could be lungless,” said researcher David Bickford, an evolutionary biologist at the National University of Singapore.

…

The loss of lungs has been known to occur two other times in all the creatures with backbones that have waddled onto land across geologic time. Each time this loss has happened in amphibians — in a species of caecilian, a limbless beast resembling an earthworm, and in many species of salamanders. How and why this change evolved in these animals has been long debated, and the new frog could shed light on this curious phenomenon.”

Link - via The Anomalist


Previous Post
Get Neatorama by RSS or email
 Next Post
this post? Please email a friend  +reddit  +SU 
Posted on April 9, 2008 at 7:31 pm by Emperor
Category: Animal

From our new online store:
» More fun T-shirt designs at Neatorama Online Store

17 comments to "The frog with no lungs"

  • Andrew32
    April 9th, 2008 at 7:48 pm

    “just one other specimen had been collected since then and neither had been dissected.”

    soo…. are you sure they have no lungs?

    lol, interesting concept though.

  • Chris
    April 9th, 2008 at 8:05 pm

    Are they good to eat?

    (Frog dissection in biology class : such good memories ;) )

  • NeuroGirl
    April 9th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

    Good stuff. I’d like to see pictures from the dissection, but it doesn’t look like they’re available

  • bean
    April 9th, 2008 at 9:44 pm

    The Latin name reminds me of Barbarella, but I’m assuming that’s sheer coincidence.

  • Thomas
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

    @ andrew — I’m pretty sure if you’ve dissected one, you’ve dissected them all. For a species to be discovered to have no lungs today, doesn’t mean that they just got that way yesterday.

  • the robot child
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:39 pm

    All frogs breath through both lungs and skin so it’s interesting to see this lesser evolved species.

  • Stella
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    My god!!! I finally understand why I flunked bio so many years ago. The from i dissected was a freak and had no lungs.

    Stella

  • NeuroGirl
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    @ the robot child: I wouldn’t necessarily say that they are “less” evolved. Their evolution shows unique physiological adaptations to their very specific environment. People generally think of pool ventilation, lung breathing, as being a marker of higher evolution, but it’s not actually the most efficient method of respiration.

  • the robot child
    April 9th, 2008 at 11:13 pm

    @NeuroGirl: Point taken but as soon as they’re removed from a damp environment it would pretty much be the end for this Boreno frog would it not?

  • Thespian24601
    April 10th, 2008 at 12:59 am

    My science teacher would be so happy to see this news. He’s obsessed with conservation, and every time we go camping, he makes us attempt to identify animals based on their call.

  • bean
    April 10th, 2008 at 6:11 am

    Heh. Do you go “camping” with your science teacher a lot?

  • su.wei
    April 10th, 2008 at 7:11 am

    crazy! ive heard of this in smaller animals. but i know that the ratio of surface area to total body is a limiting factor. i wonder if it’s an issue for these frogs. and if so, how they compensate for it.
    oOoOooo o_0

  • NeuroGirl
    April 10th, 2008 at 8:59 am

    @the robot child: Yes, but not necessarily because of the most obvious seeming answer. While cold water has a higher dissolved oxygen content than warm water, both are still markedly lower than the oxygen content of air. Obviously, the frog has found ways to increase his rate of oxygen uptake (increased surface-to-volume ratio, thinner diffusion barrier, decreased blood flow rate, more capillaries, etc). If you’ve ever pithed a frog, you know that they live for hours in dry environments, even after their lungs have been disabled. The problem with removing the frog from the damp environment is that the skin is not exclusively a respiration organ. In frogs, water contact is used to maintain ionic concentrations and the resulting gradients, remove metabolic waste products from the body, and perform a variety of other functions. Not that anybody here really cares that much about cutaneous respiration…

  • someguy
    April 10th, 2008 at 11:25 am

    What evidence is there that there was a “loss” of the lungs. Who says they ever had lungs?

  • CheeseDuck
    April 10th, 2008 at 2:29 pm

    Is it like an insect?

  • Alannah
    April 11th, 2008 at 1:05 am

    I thought all frogs breathed through the skin. I thought that was why they were such good bioindicators.

  • Submit Comment
    April 13th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    This is truly amazing. If we could use this frog. To learn to adapt. We could live on the moon! Or better yet. In the moon!

Want your own avatar? Get one for free at Gravatar!


Neatorama Comment Policy
You don't have to register or login to comment, but it's easier if you do so. We don't censor comment based on your point of view but comments that are abusive, use excessive profanity, or contain off-topic links may get edited or deleted. On some posts, it may take up several minutes for you comment to show up.


Stay updated on the comments in this post with Comment RSS