Neurotoxin Protects From Predators

a bright blue frog with black spots stands on two large green leaves with thick light green veins

Biological Strategy

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Protect From Animals

Animals–organisms that range from microscopic to larger than a bus–embody a wide variety of harms to living systems, including other animals. They threaten through predation, herbivory, defense, and parasitism, and they compete for resources such as water, nutrients, and space. Any given living organism commonly faces threats from a variety of animals, requiring strategies that effectively defend from each. Trout and other bony fish, for example, escape predators by having scales made of very thin, flake-like pieces of bone covered with slippery mucus. They also have behavioral strategies such as camouflage, fast swimming, and twisting and turning to achieve release from a predator’s grip.

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Amphibians

Class Amphibia (“to live a double life”): Frogs, salamanders, toads

Amphibians live a “double life” by being able to survive both on land and in water. Unlike reptiles with dry, scaly skin, amphibians have smooth skin that needs to be kept moist. Many live in the water through development and start life with gills, and then transition to breathing with lungs. They can get even more oxygen through cutaneous respiration, or breathing through their skin. This class represents the first animal group to be able to efficiently walk on land—aided by the well-defined limbs that gave them a “leg up” on their finned competitors.

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Glands in the skin of poison-dart frogs protect from predators via a secreted neurotoxin called batrachotoxin.

“Yet another type of skin is the poison gland which is prevalent among amphibians, including the common toad…The most lethal frogs are a few Phyllobates species: named batrachotoxin, their poison is 250 times stronger than strychnine, and acts on the nervous system.” (Foy and Oxford Scientific Films 1982:80)

Foy S, Oxford Scientific Films. The Grand Design: Form and Colour in Animals. Lingfield, Surrey, U.K.: BLA Publishing Limited for J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1982. 238 p.

Last Updated August 18, 2016

References

Book

The grand design: Form and colour in animals

26/02/1983 | Sally Foy

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