Zaire Dwarf Clawed Frog

• It is completely aquatic and never leaves the water of its own accord, but it breathes air: it has to come up to the surface regularly, and if it cannot reach it, it drowns.
• It floats motionless at the surface with all four legs spread for long stretches, a posture so passive that aquarium keepers regularly mistake it for a dead animal.
• The male calls underwater, producing a buzz audible outside the tank, which is uncommon among aquatic amphibians.
• It is fully aquatic and remains so as an adult: it has neither tongue nor teeth, and captures food by suction, snapping its mouth open.
• Its courtship is an acrobatic display: the pair embrace and swim in loops up to the surface, turning over as they go, and release a few eggs on each circuit.
• The male calls underwater. It produces a buzz with a laryngeal mechanism that needs no air, something uncommon among amphibians.
• It is constantly confused with the albino African clawed frog in aquarium shops, but they are different species: this one is much smaller and has webbing on all four feet.
• It can live for more than fifteen years in captivity, far longer than most of its buyers expect.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (amphibian)

Habitat & environment

Pools, slow streams and waterlogged forest ground of the Congo basin

Sexual maturity

9 months

Gestation / incubation

Larval development in water

Litter / clutch size

500 eggs

Sources consulted: https://www.iucnredlist.org/ | https://animaldiversity.org/ | https://es.wikipedia.org/