Set B Pre-Finals Frog Dissection
Set B Pre-Finals Frog Dissection
Set B Pre-Finals Frog Dissection
PRE-FINALS
FROG DISSECTION
GROUP 4
Baldon, Mark Edson
Garcia, John Carlo
Ilao, Jhon Kyle
Mandigma, Angeline
Mojado, Reyndell
Rebollido, Kim
Silva, Erica
Untalan, Marie Kristine Anne
Introduction
Kingdom Animalia
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely
carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians Phylum Chordata
composing the order Anura. Anura came from a Greek word Class Amphibia
which means without tail. The oldest fossil “proto-frog”
Clade Salientia
appeared in the early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular
clock dating suggests their origins may extend further back Order Anura
to Permian. 265 million years ago. Frogs are widely
Scientific Anura
distributed, ranging from tropics to subarctic regions, but the Name
great concentration of species diversity is in tropical
rainforests. There are over 6,300 recorded species, accounting for around 88% of extant
amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrae orders. Warty frogs tend
to be called as toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, not from taxonomy
or evolutionary history.
Frogs are poikilothermic which means its body temperature varies with that of its
surroundings. It has loose-fitting moist skin. Its skin is permeable to oxygen and carbon dioxide,
as well as water. Its eyes protrude in such a way that they are above water when the rest of the
body is immersed. The eyes have movable lids but, in addition, the whole eyeball can be
withdrawn farther into the head by muscles. This can be seen to happen sometimes when a frog
is swallowing. Its nostrils are situated so that the air can be breathed while the frog is swimming
at the surface; they can also be closed. Behind the eyes are circular ear-drums. Sounds in the air
or water set these thin membranes vibrating, the vibration being transmitted by a small bone to a
sensory region which sends nervous impulses to the brain.
An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes, anteriorly-attached tongue, limbs folded
underneath, and no tail, except as larvae and most have long hind legs, elongated ankle bones,
webbed toes, no claws, large eyes, and a smooth and warty skin. Frogs range in size from 7.7
mm (Paedophryne amanuensis) to 30 cm (Conraua goliath). They have short vertebral columns,
with number more than 10 free vertebrae and fused tail bones. Frogs have glandular skin, with
secretions ranging from distasteful to toxic. Their skin varies in color from well-camouflaged
dappled brown, grey and green to vivid patterns of bright red and yellow and black to show
toxicity and ward off predators. Adult frogs live in fresh water and on dry land; some species are
adapted for living underground or in trees.
Frog’s powerful hind legs are adapted for both swimming and leaping. The strong
extensor muscles of the thigh contract, extending the limb and thrusting the foot against the
ground or water. In the water, the webbed feet provide a greater surface area for pushing
backwards on the water. The smaller fore-limbs help to steer when the frog is swimming and
absorb the shock of landing after a jump on land. On moving from water to land or over rough
ground the frog will crawl rather than leap.
Adult frogs are carnivorous, feeding on worms, beetles, flies and other insects. Worms
and beetles may simply be picked up by the mouth but flying insects can be caught on the wing.
On occasions the frog will leap towards the insect and trap it in its wide, gaping mouth; on other
occasions its tongue is used. The tongue is attached to the front of the mouth and can be rapidly
extended by the muscles. It is shot out in a half circle, and the insect is trapped by sticky saliva
covering the surface. Insects can be picked off the ground or vegetation in a similar way. The
prey is swallowed whole but there are rows of tiny, close set teeth in the upper jaw and in the
roof of the mouth which prevent the prey from escaping. In swallowing, the eyes are pulled
farther into the head and press down on the prey.
In male frogs, the two testes are attached to the kidneys and semen passes into the
kidneys through fine tubes called efferent ducts. It then travels on through the ureters, which are
consequently known as urinogenital ducts. There is number penis, and sperm is ejected from the
cloaca directly onto the eggs as the female lays them. The ovaries of the female frog are beside
the kidneys and the eggs pass down a pair of oviduct and through the cloaca to the exterior.
When frogs mate, the mate climbs on the back of the female and wraps his forelimbs
round her body, either begin the front leg or just in front of the hind legs. This position is called
amplexus and may be held for several days. The frog has a certain hormone dependent secondary
sexual characteristics. These includes the development of special pads on his thumbs in the
breeding season, to give him a firm hold. The grip of the male during this stimulates the female
to release eggs, usually wrapped in jelly, as spawn. In many species the male is smaller and
slimmer than the females. Males have vocal cords and make a range of croaks, particularly in the
breeding seaso, and I some species they also have vocal sacs to amplify the sound.
Frogs goes through 4 different stages. A frog begins its life as a fertilized egg. A female
frog lays a lot of eggs at one time in a pond. The eggs float on water in a jelly mass or cluster.
When the tadpole hatches, it looks like a fish rather than frogs. It has gills that allow it to breathe
underwater. The tadpole swims, eats plants and algae from the water, and grows for several
weeks. The tadpole later on grows two front legs and its tail gets shorter and shorter. Later on it
will hop right out of the water and onto dry land for the first time. The tail will eventually
disappear completely and it will start to eat insects instead of plants. The young frog will grow
for about 2-4 years to become an adult. The adult frog then lay their eggs and more tadpoles
hatch and begin the cycle again
Frogs will change their habitat based on what they will going to do. In early spring,
during the breeding season, frogs-spend their time in ponds and lakes with steady flow of water.
They are not usually found in swiftly running water. After laying eggs, they are more likely to be
encountered in damp vegetation than in water. They are unlikely to be found in any dry situation
where their skins could lose water and dry-up and so seriously impair their breathing. In winter
they hibernate in the sense that they are dormant and do not feed. They lie up in the mud at the
bottom of the pond, in damp moss or holes in the ground and their eyes, mouth and nostrils are
closed.
A dissection is an act of dismembering a body of an animal or a plant to study its
anatomical structure. Most dissection involves the careful isolation and removal of an individual
organ called Virchow technique an alternative more cumbersome techniques involve the removal
of the entire organ body. Dissection is typically conducted in a morgue or anatomy lab but a
dissection of plants and/or small animals are typically carried out/demonstrated in biology and
natural science classes in middle school or high school. Even though dissection and autopsy both
require the test subject to be dissected, they are different in functions. In dissection, the purpose
is to analyze the function and the composition of the internal organs of a plant or an animal,
while in an autopsy, the purpose is to analyze or determine the cause of a failure or the cause of
death of a person. An autopsy is often done on a deceased person.
Theres one reason why frogs are often chosen to be a specimen for dissection and that is
that their bodies provide a good overview of the organ systems of a complex living thing. The
insides of a frog represent the general form of a vertebrae, everything is in there, the lungs, heart,
stomach, intestines. While the way their bodies work is nowhere near identical to a human’s,
there are many similarities. The organs present in a frog, and the way they are laid out in the
body, are similar enough to humans to provide insight for students about how their bodies work.
They are also practical advantages in using frogs too. They’re an appropriate size for dissection
in the classroom and make the process manageable for students and teachers.
When dissecting a frog, you must follow these following steps to ensure a
successful outcome. First, lay the frog on its back, spread its limbs and pin them to the dissecting
pan. Lift the skin by using the forceps while cutting a straight line through the frog’s skin with a
scalpel. Once done, lift the skin and pin it to the pan. Cut the muscle underneath the skin. Be
careful you might damage the organs below. When you reach the area below the arm, use a
scissor to cut through the sternum of the frog. Once done, pin the muscle flaps to the tray and
observe the organs of the frog. If you’ve done the process correctly you will see the heart is still
pumping. When you are done observing the organs, Cut the heart of the frog. Lastly, when you
are all done, dispose of the specimen properly by sealing the dissected specimen in a Ziploc bag
and place it and the dissection tray in your regular outdoor trash container. Always use a
disinfectant soap and water to thoroughly clean your dissection tools and the area where you
worked.
Always remember to handle scalpels or razor blades with extreme care, Always cut away
from your body and away from others, never ingest specimen parts, never remove specimens or
specimen parts from the classroom—until the dissection is completed all parts of the dissection
must remain within the dissecting pan, Wash hands with soap and water after each dissection,
conduct the dissection activity in a clean and organized workspace, with fresh specimens, a dirty
workspace can become a breeding ground for pathogens.
Frog’s Internal Anatomy
Heart. The frog’s heart is the small triangular organ at the top. Unlike a mammal heart, it only
has three chambers — two atria at the top and one ventricle below. Carefully cut away the
pericardium, the thin membrane surrounding the heart. Notice the arteries connected to the top of
the heart, giving it a ‘Y’ shape.
Liver. Just below the heart, the three-lobed liver is the largest organ in the frog’s body.
Gall Bladder. Lift up the lobes of the liver to find the small greenish-brown sac of the gall
bladder nestled between them. This stores bile produced by the liver.
Lungs. Again, lift the lobes of the liver to locate the lungs on either side of the heart. They are
made of a spongy tissue.
Stomach. Curving below the liver is the stomach; it looks like a large whitish tube. After
identifying the other organs, you can open the stomach and see what the frog ate. (Frogs swallow
their food whole.)
Small Intestine. The stomach connects to the small intestine. The first section, or duodenum, is
fairly straight, but the rest of the intestine is coiled and held in place by a blood-vessel-filled
membrane called the mesentery.
Pancreas. The pancreas is a thin, flat, ribbon-like organ that lies between the stomach and the
small intestine.
Large Intestine. The small intestine narrows to the point where it meets the shorter, broader large
intestine. This opens into a chamber called the cloaca, the last stop before wastes exit the body
through the cloacal opening, or anus. The frog’s sperm or eggs also exit through the cloaca.
Spleen. Lift the small intestine to find the round, reddish spleen attached to the mesentery on the
underside. The spleen stores blood as part of the circulatory system.
Ovaries. Female frogs have ovaries full of dark-colored eggs; if the eggs are well-developed, the
ovaries will be very large and visible. If not, lift the stomach and intestines to see the ovaries
beneath them.
Oviducts. Move the ovaries to one side to see the coiled tubes of the oviducts. If the eggs in the
ovaries are not fully developed, the oviducts will be small and tightly coiled.
Kidneys. The kidneys are flat, oval-shaped organs on the back wall of the body cavity beneath
the ovaries.
When you’re done, print out this diagram and fill in the labels yourself to test your knowledge of
frog anatomy: