Massive tadpole
4th May 2009, MondayLast night whilst surveying some ponds by torchlight, near Lade Pit, I found this massive tadpole. It is 13 cm long – a large common frog tadpole by contrast would be 5 cm long!
So what is it? My first thoughts were that it might be an out-sized marsh frog, although these would normally only grow to a maximum length of 8 cm. Tadpoles sometimes have hormonal imbalances that result in this sort of overgrowth. Looking at it in the daylight I am left with a concern that it might be a North American bullfrog, which frequently reaches this size, but I am not convinced. The “jizz” is not quite right, as I remember the species from another set of ponds in the south-east in 1999 and 2004. I will hang onto it until it is a little closer to metamorphosis, at which point identification should be easier.
Wild Hastings
wildRye
