I

Asiatic Herpetological Research

February 1992~

Vol. 4, pp. 68-75

Investigations on Ranid Larvae in Southern Sakhalin Island, Russia

HANS-JOACHIM HERRMANN AND KLAUS KABISCH2
16056 Schleusingen, Germany^Museum of Natural History Castle Bertholdsburg, PF 44,
institute for Conservation of Nature and Environmental Protection, University of Leipzig, Augustusplatz 2,--7010 Leipzig, Germany

Abstract. -Using a special chemical technique, four breeding sites of two brown frog species, Ranaamurensis and Rana chensinensis, were investigated on Sakhalin Island, Russia. They were living together
with other amphibian species under very different conditions. A puddle with Rana chensinensis larvae wasfound adjacent to the Pacific coast with a salinity of 1.2%. The description of the mouth part morphology
was completed by SCAN-investigations on the micromorphology of larval teeth, horny jaws and the warty
epithelium.

Key words: Amphibia, Anura, Ranidae, Rana amurensis, Rana chensinensis, tadpoles, breeding sites, waterchemistry, salinity, micromorphology, Russia, Sakhalin Island.

Introduction
In July and August of 1989 the authors
visited the southern part of the Russian
found inFar East island, Sakhalin.

We

many places the only two ranid frog
species inhabiting the island, Ranaamurensis and Rana chensinensis. In
most habitats they coexisted with theother amphibian species of Sakhalin
Island, Salamandrella keyserlingii, Bufo
gargarizans and Hyla japonica. The
latter was only found near Kostromskoe.
In other papers (Hermann and Kabisch,1990, 1991; Kabisch et al., 1990) theauthors report on the herpetofauna ofSakhalin Island. The present paper isconcerned with the life and environmental
conditions of ranid frog larvae. Somemicromorphological data for the species

camtschatcense as the main botanicalelement, (3) pond near Kostromskoe with
Alisma orientate as the dominant water
plant, (4) puddle at the Pacific coast on
the Krilon Peninsula (Fig. 2).

The water

samples were analyzed in the laboratoryof W. Pietsch. The fixed larvae (24specimens of each species, representing
stages of the beginning of hind leg
formation) were also prepared forinvestigation of their micromorphology(for technique see Herrmann, 1989). The
preparations were investigated with ascanning electron microscope TESLA B
300 in the Technical College of Ilmenau(Thuringia).

Results/.

Characterization of the Breeding Sites

diagnosis are presented.

The water analysis data of the fourMethods
Tadpoles of Rana amurensis and Ranachensinensis were observed in many
breeding sites on the island. Some ofthem were caught and fixed in 70%
According to a technique of W.
Pietsch (Dresden) one liter samples ofwater from four breeding sites wereobtained from: (1) brook in the city parkethanol.

of Jushno-Sachalinsk (Fig. 1), (2) poolsnear Pjatyretske with Lysichiton(C)

199? hv A vi/7/ir H prnptnlnoirnl Rpvp/irrh

investigated breeding sites are shown intable 1. From this information it can beconcluded that the chemical nature of thewater bodies is very different. In the firstone, in a brook in the city park ofJushno-Sachalinks, we found larvae ofRana chensinensis in addition to those of
Bufo gargarizans. Rana chensinensis
prefers running water as breeding sites on

Sakhalin Island.

The water can becharacterized as follows: slightly acidic,
oligotrophic, poor in humic material,

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchFebruary 1992

FIG. 1.

Vol. 4, p. 69

Tadpoles of Rana chensinensis in a brook in the city park of Jushno-Sachalinsk.

nutrient poor, poor in electrolytes, rich inand of a low total hardness. The
only vegetation at the brook consisted ofsome grasses and rushes.
iron,The second water body was a breeding
pool of Rana amurensis. It is one of four
permanent pools near the Naitsa River in
the Pjatyretske River system. The four
2pools (area about 550 m ) are slightly

humic material,Salamandrella keyserlingii, Ranaamurensis, Rana chensinensis, Hylajaponica and Bufo gargarizans. Typical
species of the very rich vegetation of thissmall pond (area about 80 m 2 ) were

Alisma orientate, Juncus bufonius,
OenantheEpilobium palustre,Phleumdecumbens,
pratense, andEqulsetum palustre. The water wasslightly acidic, oligomesohumic, rich inacidic, very poor
nutrient poor and of a low total hardness.

phosphates and carbonates, but of a low

In the third breeding site all amphibian

The fourth habitat was a very smallspecies living on the island were found:puddle (area 1.5 m ) at the Pacific coast.

intotal hardness.

2

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 4, p. 70

iFebruary 1992

•FIG. 2. Puddle with Rana chensinensis larvae adjacent to the Pacific coast on the Krilon Peninsula.

Splashing salt water contacted this puddle
during the time of high tide. It was abreeding site of Rana chensinensis. The
vegetation consisted of Lemna andfound many pieces ofJuncus only.
old wood in the water. The water can becharacterized as follows:slightlylarvae represented an earlier stage ofdevelopment compared to tadpoles of thesame species living in other breedingalkaline, poor in humic material, nutrient
poor, rich in electrolytes and of a medium

The schematic drawings of the larval
mouth of Rana amurensis and Ranachensinensis show clear differences inWith thetheir morphology (Fig. 3).

places at the same time.

We

total hardness.

A typical feature of thisthe NaCl content ofbreeding
1.2%. Because of the high content ofsalt, the puddle can be classified as a Bmesohalobien water representing theupper limit of brackish water. The 24
siteis2. Micromorphology Investigations

SCAN, the small conical teeth on theupper and on the lower horny jaw could
be visualized in both species. In theliterature (Bannikov et al., 1977) only

Asiatic Herpetological Research

February 1992

Vol. 4, p. 71

teeth on the lower jaw were shown for
Rana amurensis. We found 69-73 in theupper jaw of Rana chensinensis and 51-55 in Rana amurensis. On the lower jaw
52-54 were counted in Rana chensinensis
and 46-49 in Rana amurensis (Fig. 4-6).
The labial teeth were identical in all rows
in both species. Fan-like tips, 6-13 oneach tooth, could be seen (Fig. 7). The
warty epithelium around the mouth fieldof the larvae consisted of a fleshy skin.
At the margin of this structure, labial teeth
have been found (Fig. 8). The epitheliumof the larvae was composed of hexaedricor octaedric plate cells.

Discussion

Some papers on the effects of low pH
and other chemical variables onamphibian larvae were published byFreda (1986) and Freda and Dunson(1985a, 1985b, 1986). A lot of data onacid tolerance in amphibians aresummarized in the paper of Gebhardt etal. (1987). The lowest pH tolerated by adescribed for Rana
Other conditions
were observed by Freda and Dunson(1984) in experiments with Ranacatesbeiana, Rana clamitans and Rana

brown

frog,

as

sylvatica, was3.0.

pipiens in the laboratory. An increasingof the external calcium concentration
extended the survival time in acid waterby slowing the loss of sodium. So it ispossible to survive in salt water under
There was aspecial conditions.
fortheregulatory principle
magnitude oflarvae populations in breeding sites withsuch special conditions obtained byFIG. 3.

Schematic drawings of the larval
mouth parts of Rana amurensis (a) and Ranachensinensis (b).

maximum values in very short intervals,
The
limiting the survival of larvae.
intosurvive
saltwater
wasopportunity
described for urodeles by Jones andHillman (1978), (Batrachoseps), andRomspert and McClanahan (1981),{Ambystoma tigrinum). In the papers ofPower (1937), Andren and Nilson

Kovaltsyk (1981). The main factors
were acidity and the contents of cat ionsin the water. Another role was played by

Herrmann (1982), Dunson
andGuix and Lopes (1989) some(1977),
anuran species are listed as breeding andthe temperature of the water in connection

developing in brackish waters. Fljaks(1985) recorded some brackish breedingsites (1.5-9%) of Bufo gargarizans andRana amurensis on the island ofwith

thephoto period (Dupre andPetranka, 1985; Floyd, 1985).

The long days in spring and summer,
as typical of Sakhalin Island, enable theamphibian larvae to develop under
extreme conditions.
These arecharacterized by extreme temperature
differences, reaching minimum and(1979),

Sakhalin.

Fljaks (1985, 1986) alsoon
thereported
mortality of the tadpolesof Ranaamurensis
and Rana
chensinensis on this island. Heobserved the highest mortality in the firststages of larval development: 18-73% inAsiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 4, p. 72

FIG. 4.

Mouth parts of the tadpole of Rana

FIG. 5. Teeth of the upper jaw of the tadpole ofRana chensinensis (x 1500).

if-',flH

Labial teeth of the tadpole of Ranachensinensis (x 2500).

chensinensis (x 120).

HFIG. 7.

MH'February 1992

February 1992

TABLE

1 .

Vol. 4, p. 73

Chemical/physical data of the breeding sites.

criterion

PHpV (KMn04

mgr

Asiatic Herpetological Researchbrook in Jushno-pool near

pond nearpuddle at the Pacific

Sachalinks (1)PjatyTetske (2)Kostroms-koe (3)coast (4)

6.8

6.6

6.9

7.2

33.8

22.9

48.0

28.2

2.3

1.6

4.0

18.4

2.1

1.51)

total hard-ness (°dH)

carbonate
hardness (°KH)

3.2

nitrate1(mgl)

0.9

sulfate1(mgl")

ammonium

0.121(mgl" )1.52

iron1(mgl" )calcium(mgl"11.41)

0.01

nitrite(mgl1)

7.6

chloride(mgl"1)

3.1

magnesium(mgl"1)24.0

CO2(mgl"1)

14.1

Si02(mgl1)

phosphate
1(mgl" )

0.1

lime

38.3(mgl"1)

9.6

O2(mgl"1)

residue of evaporation (mg l")residue of combustion (mg l'94.011)

50.0

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 4, p. 74

be used for identification of anuran
tadpoles. Wassersug (1980) and Viertel(1982) favored micromorphology for
taxonomic classification. The present
data support the necessity to addmicromorphological data for species
diagnosis in anuran larvae.

February 1992

1986. The influence of acid pond
water on amphibians: a review. Water, Airand Soil Pollution 30:439-450.

FREDA, J.

FREDA, J., AND W. A. DUNSON.

1984.

Sodium balance of amphibian larvae exposed
to low environmental pH.
Physiological
Zoology 57:435-443.

Acknowledgments

FREDA, J., AND W. A. DUNSON.

1985. Field

and laboratory studies on ion balance andFor their excellent scientific assistanceto thank Dr. K. Pfeifer,
Technical College of Ilmenau, and Dr. sc.
W. Pietsch, Dresden. Furthermore weare very grateful to Doz. Dr. sc. K.
Brauer, Paul Flechsig Institute for Brain
Research, University of Leipzig, for

we havecritical reading of the manuscript.

1979.

On

BANNIKOV, A. G., I. S. DAREVESKY, V. G.
ISCHENKO, A. K. RUSTAMOV, A.ND N. N.

SCHERBAK. 1977. [Field guide of theUSSR amphibians and reptiles].
Prosveschenye Publishing, Moscow. 414 pp.
(In Russian).

1977.

Tolerance

tohightermperature and salinity of tadpoles of thePhilippine frog, Rana cancrivora. Copeia
1977: 375-378.
1985.

Ontogeny of temperature selection in larval
amphibians. Copeia 1985:462-467.

FLJAKS, N. L. 1985. Vyzhivaemost amfibij na
rannych etapach rasvitija na ostrove Sachalin.
Voprosy gerpetologii, Leningrad 6:214-215.
1986.

VlijanieThethe hatching of amphibian embryos in waterof low pH. Canadian Journal of Zoology
63:2649-2659.
1986. Effects

local distribution of amphibians.

pH sredy na

vyzhivaemost i razvite beschvostngch amfibia

Copeia1986:454-466.

GEBHARDT, H., K. KREIMES, AND M
LINNENBACH.

1987.

GUIX, J. C, ANDR.

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Untersuchungenzur
Beeintrachtigung der Ei- und Larvalstadienvon Amphibien in sauren Gew3ssern. Naturund Landchaft 62:20-23.

M. LOPES.

1989.

Occurence of Hyla geographica Spix andBufo crucifer Wied tadpoles in brackish water
environmemts in the Jureia Region (S3oPaulo, SE Brasil).
Amphibia-Reptilia
10:185-189.

HERRMANN, H. J.

DUPRE, R. K., AND J. W. PETRANKA.

FLJAKS, N. L.

1985.

influence of external cation concentration onof low pH and other chemical variables on thestinkpaddans Bufo calamita utbredning ochekologi pa den svenska vastkusten. Fauna
och Flora 74:121-132.

DUNSON, W. A.

FREDA, J., AND W. A. DUNSON.

FREDA, J., AND W. A. DUNSON.

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