These aquatic frogs are just dying to be colourful – and they are in high demand in China! Could they make their way into UK shops?
You've seen dyed fish, tattooed fish, cosmetically butchered fish and live fish and terrapins for sale trapped in tiny keyrings, but now it would seem there is a new aquatic evil – dyed frogs.
Xenopus laevis, known as the Platanna or African clawed frog, is a popular species in the pet and aquatics trade, sold usually in an albino form and for aquariums.
But albino was clearly not enough for some sellers in China, opting instead to artificially colour the amphibians with large amounts of industrial chemicals which the frogs absorb through their skin.
One website even reported breeders experimenting with dyeing the frogs by way of laser.
Bright colours
According to odditycentral.com the radioactive looking amphibians are in very high in demand in China for stocking both aquariums and ponds.
The colour is said to last for up to five years with vendors reporting that children "like the bright colours because they are so cheerful."
But the tanks containing the unfortunate victims are labelled "not for human consumption" and the colouring agents soaked up by their skin may indeed prove lethal for them, with experts saying that thousands of these tropical frogs could die as a result of this trend.
Check out the video below:
The natural life
The genus Xenopus are native to Sub Sarahan africa and the name Xenopus comes from the Greek, xeno=strange and pous=foot. Three of the toes on each foot have conspicuous black claws hence the collective name clawed frog.
Xenopus laevis grows to a length of 5"/12cm and is tongueless, toothless and completely aquatic. These frogs live for up to 25 years and their natural coloration is camouflaged grey/green.
They inhabit wetlands, ponds and lakes where they scavenge anything living, dying or dead in which to eat.
A life of experimentation
X. laevis is used in developmental biology as an important model organism.
Traditionally they have also been used for pregnancy testing, when it was discovered that urine from pregnant women induced oocyte production.
However its movement across the world both for science and the pet trade has caused its non-native introduction to several natural habitats and may even be a contributing factor to amphibian extinction via the spread of Batrachochytrium dendrobatis, a fungal disease.
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