Little Black Tadpoles

When we were on our feild trip yesterday I saw a bunch of these little guys swimming around on the shore line. From past experience and what I have learned in class I am fairly certain that these are American Toad tadpoles (Bufo americanus). These tadpoles and the toads that they eventually metamorph into are very common in Ohio and the surrounding areas. They begin breeding in early spring and can lay as many as 12,000 eggs with some extreme reports of up to 20,000 being laid. The eggs are laid in two long single file strands that are usually intertwined in plants and sticks in the water. One interesting fact about these guys is that there is a dwarf subspecies (B. a. charlesmithi) that grows to a smaller size and has a more reddish coloration. An easy way to distinguish between the normal and dwarf subspecies it to look at their belly. Dwarf toads have an unspotted belly. Like most anurans these guys are ferocious eaters and will try to take down anything is small enough to fit in their mouth.

(Sammy Peppers)