CATDOLL : CATDOLL: What level of protection does the stone frog belong to?

The stone frog is a national second-level key protected animal

The stone frog (Quasipaa spinosa), standardly known as the spiny-chested frog, is also known as stone clam, stone chicken, pheasant, stone jelly, flying fish, stone scale, stone toad, stone shrimp, stone pit frog, stone chaos, and wood locust (in southern Sichuan). It is an animal of the Anura order Ranidae family of the class Amphibia.

Morphological characteristics

(I) External morphology of adult frogs

Stone frog head

Stone frog head

The stone frog is large and sturdy, with an adult body length of 10-13 cm, and some up to 15 cm. Its body shape is similar to the black-spotted frog or tiger-striped frog, and its body color varies; for example, some stone frogs have a black back with a white midline, in addition, there are different types such as brown, dark red, and colorful. Its body can be divided into head, trunk and limbs, and the neck is not obvious.

1. Head: The head of an adult frog is flat and broad, with a blunt and rounded snout that protrudes from the lower jaw. The snout ridge is not obvious, the cheeks are tilted outward, the mouth is located at the front of the head, and the mouth is cleft behind the eyes. The eyes are oval and located at the highest point of the head. The field of vision is wide, and it is easy to observe distant, close or moving objects. There are upper and lower eyelids, and there is a folded transparent film on the inner side of the lower eyelid, called the nictitating membrane. It is reddish-brown and can float up and down to protect the eyeball. The eardrum of the stone frog is not obvious, and there is only a longitudinal temporal fold behind the eye. There is no external ear, but a middle ear cavity with sensitive hearing. A pair of nostrils are between the snout and the eyes, and the distance between the noses is almost equal to the distance between the eyes. The inside is the nasal cavity, which is connected to the internal nostrils and the oropharyngeal cavity. It is the channel for frogs to breathe air. There are special valves on the external nostrils, which play an important role in breathing.

2. Trunk: The trunk of the stone frog is short and flat, without a tail, and the neck is not obvious. The rear end of the trunk is the cloaca. There are enlarged limbs on both sides of the trunk. The forelimbs are short and strong, consisting of the upper arm, lower buttocks, wrist, palm, and four fingers, which are separated. There is no web between the fingers. The fingertips are round and slightly swollen, and the subarticular tumors are well developed, especially the first finger. The hind limbs are strong, long and enlarged, with full muscles, consisting of the tibia, tarsus, metatarsus, and five toes. The tibia joint reaches the eyes in front, and the toe tips are swollen into a prominent spherical shape. The toe tumors are well developed, which is suitable for climbing rough cliffs. There are webs between the toes. There are small round-headed warts on the dorsal side of the limbs and the side of the body, and there are black thorns on the warts;

The male frog has special forelimbs, with narrow warts of varying lengths on the back, arranged in intermittent rows, with small round warts in between. After sexual maturity, the entire chest has black thorn-like spines, and the base of the fleshy warts are strong and bulging, but not divided into two groups. There are also spines on the inner side of the two fingers. There is a single subpharyngeal vocal sac, and the abdomen is light yellowish white. The female forelimbs are not as developed as the male, and there are no narrow warts on the back, but scattered round warts, no thorn-like spines on the chest, and the ventral surface is smooth and white.

(II) Internal structure of adult frogs

Like other vertebrates, the internal structure of the stone frog includes ten major organ systems: digestion, respiration, circulation, skeleton, muscle, nerve, reproduction, and excretion. Here we introduce several systems related to breeding.

1. Digestive system: The digestive system of the stone frog includes two parts: the digestive tract and the digestive glands. The digestive tract includes the mouth, oropharyngeal cavity, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and cloaca. The mouth has a muscular tongue and salivary glands that secrete mucus, which are used to swallow and moisten food. The tongue is yellowish white and has a simple structure. The root of the tongue is attached to the front of the mandible. The tip of the tongue is forked, usually facing the pharynx, free and can be freely extended and curled. The tongue surface and the inner wall of the mouth are covered with a layer of mucosal cells, which have the functions of swallowing and tasting. There is a row of teeth on the side of the maxilla and premaxilla that can grasp food but have no actual chewing function. The back end of the pharynx is the esophagus, which is very short and is located on the back of the throat, in the midline of the body. The lower end of the esophagus leads to the stomach. The stomach is located on the right side of the chest and abdomen. It is slightly curved like a bag and has a thick muscle layer. The junction of the stomach and small intestine is called the pylorus. The small intestine is divided into the duodenum and the rectum, which folds back several times to form the large intestine. The large intestine is located on the midline of the body. The large intestine is also called the rectum. It is slightly larger and straighter than the small intestine, and opens at the cloaca.

The digestive glands of frogs include gastric glands, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, etc. The liver is relatively large and reddish-brown in color. It is located at the front end of the thoracic and abdominal cavity and is divided into left and right lobes and a smaller middle lobe. The left lobe is further divided into two closed anterior and posterior lobes. The gallbladder is located between the left and right lobes. It is yellow-green in color, nearly round, and stores bile, which is entered into the digestive tract through the bile duct. The pancreas is located at the bend of the duodenum and is an irregular light red or yellow-white gland. The pancreatic duct merges into the bile duct between the stomach and intestine.

Digestion: Protein is digested in the stomach under the action of hydrochloric acid and pepsin. Fats and carbohydrates are digested and absorbed in the small intestine under the action of gastric juice, pancreatic juice, bile and enteropeptase. Food residues are discharged from the cloaca.

2. Respiratory system: Adult frogs breathe through lungs and skin; lung breathing, organs include nostrils, nasal cavity, oropharynx, larynx, trachea, lungs, air enters the external nostrils and then reaches the oropharynx through the internal nostrils. A small amount of gas exchange is carried out by the oropharyngeal mucosa, and most of the gas reaches the lungs through the trachea. The lungs are short and sac-shaped, with a simple structure. There is a large alveolus inside, and the surface is connected by many small alveoli. There are abundant capillaries, and the inner wall of the alveoli is filled with honeycomb tissue, and gas exchange is carried out in the alveoli.

Because stone frogs have no ribs or thorax, they breathe through their lungs in a special swallowing manner.

Due to the simple structure of frog lungs, the gas exchange of the lungs cannot meet the needs of its whole body metabolism. One-third of the gas exchange has to be borne by the skin. It can be seen that skin respiration of frogs plays a very important role. The skin of stone frogs is composed of epidermis and dermis. The epidermis has a high degree of keratinization, which can better prevent the loss of water in the body. The dermis contains abundant blood vessels and developed lymphatic spaces, which can carry out gas exchange, and the skin respiration function is thus produced. In order for breathing to proceed normally, the frog's skin needs to be kept moist, except for the secretion of mucus. Under normal circumstances, stone frogs always have to live in humid areas. This is the reason.

3. Muscular system: The muscles of the stone frog make up the body wall, limbs and various organs, and enable these organs to move. According to their structure, muscles can be divided into three types: striated muscle, smooth muscle and cardiac muscle. Striated muscle has strong movement power and is easy to fatigue. It is mostly attached to bones, limbs and body wall. Smooth muscle can move for a long time and has strong contraction force. It mainly constitutes internal organs. According to their position, the muscles of adult frogs can be divided into head muscles, trunk muscles, and limb muscles, among which the limb muscles are the most developed.

4. Reproductive system: Stone frogs are dioecious, undergo in vitro fertilization, and have no external genitalia. The male gonads are a pair of oval light yellow testicles, which vary in size with individuals and seasons and are located on the dorsal side of the abdominal cavity, below the kidneys. The testicles produce sperm that travel through the vas deferens to the kidneys, ureters, and cloaca. In front of each testicle is a golden branched finger-like fat body that provides nutrition and energy for sperm during dormancy and reproduction, and its size also varies accordingly. The female frog's gonads are a pair of multi-lobed cystic ovaries located in the abdominal cavity, on the ventral surface of the front end of the kidneys. Their size varies with the seasons, and they swell during the reproductive season. They contain many yellow-black spherical eggs. The mature eggs swim free from the abdominal cavity into the trumpet of the oviduct and reach the oviduct. At the same time, the eggs are coated with a gelatinous substance secreted by the oviduct glands, and then pass through the uterus and cloaca to be discharged from the body. There is also a pair of golden fat bodies in the front of the ovaries, which function similarly to those of male frogs.

(III) Morphological characteristics of tadpoles

In the tadpole stage, the body of the stone frog is long and narrow, the tail is thick, the skin is dark yellow, and there are small black stars. There is a black V-shaped pattern at the junction of the body and the tail. The tadpole's proboscis has a strong adsorption ability. The tadpole has no lungs and breathes with gills.

The stone frog is large and sturdy. Adult frogs are generally 10-13 cm long and weigh more than 150-250 grams, and large ones can reach more than 500 grams. The skin of the stone frog is rough, the back skin is dark gray, and there is a lot of oil on it. The head of the stone frog is wide and flat, the snout is round and protrudes from the lower jaw, and the distance between the two nostrils is almost equal to the distance between the two eyes. Male stone frogs of the same age are larger than females. The forelimbs of sexually mature male frogs are extremely sturdy, with thorn-like flesh thorns on the chest and a light yellow abdomen. The female has no thorns on the chest and a smooth white abdomen. Most stone frogs are dark gray. In January 2015, a golden stone frog was found in the Shenxian Valley Tourist Scenic Area in the mountainous area of ​​western Zhejiang, confirming the existence of the golden stone frog.

The legendary golden frog

Fold to edit this section Living habits

It lives in mountain streams and puddles or in rock caves in southern China. It hides during the day and comes out at night. Its main food is insects and their larvae. It hibernates from November to April of the following year.

Stone frogs crawl out of their caves in the evening, foraging and playing in the grass on both sides of the mountain stream or on the hillside. They are very active. However, their range of activities is generally not large. In the late night, they gradually return to the caves. After dawn, they are rarely seen outside the caves. During the day, they usually lie in wait at the entrance of the caves, or lurk in the gaps between the grass, gravel and stones, waiting for an opportunity to catch nearby food. Once they encounter predators such as water snakes and mice, or when people approach the entrance of the caves, they quickly retreat into the caves or sink to the bottom of the water.

The activity of stone frogs is closely related to external environmental conditions, and changes in water temperature and flow have a particularly significant impact on them. When the suitable water temperature is 15-25℃, the frogs will be active normally; when the water temperature is too low, the frogs will be less active, their growth will stagnate, and they will hibernate; when the water temperature is too high, the frogs will show abnormalities or even die.

Folding Hibernation

Stone frogs hibernate in the cold winter, do not eat or move, close their eyes, and do not respond to the outside world. They mainly rely on the nutrients stored in their bodies to carry out extremely weak and slow metabolism. According to observation, they generally start hibernation after the frost falls. During the Waking of Insects season, when the water temperature is higher than 12℃, some stone frogs lie at the entrance of the cave or jump out of the cave to move around. When hibernating, stone frogs like to live in deep pools in mountain streams or caves with mud beside the streams. They are more cold-resistant than stone caves.

Folding hatch

The newly hatched tadpoles rely on the yolk sac for nutrition for 4 to 5 days, and start to look for food when the yolk is consumed.

Folding baby food

The food of young frogs mainly consists of mosquitoes, small insects and insect larvae.

Folding adult frog food

Live bait: From mealworms to adult frogs, their food range is very wide. After dissection and observation of 47 adult frogs, 57 kinds of food were found in the stomach and intestines, such as insects, centipedes, bee spiders, millipedes, snails, snails, shrimps, crabs, miscellaneous fish, sand loaches, earthworms, young snakes, small birds, etc.

The stone frog's diet is mainly animal, among which insects and their larvae account for the majority (48.38%). A small amount of plant residue was found during the autopsy, which may have been accidentally eaten during hunting.

Among the 47 adult frogs dissected from May to August 1990, 12 had empty stomachs, i.e. stomach fullness level 0, accounting for 25.53%, 11 had stomach fullness level 1 to 3, accounting for 23.4%, and 24 had stomach fullness level 4 to 5, accounting for 51.06%.

Some specimens were dissected 1-2 days after capture, and the food in the primitive stomach had already been digested, so the proportion of jejunal stomach was relatively large. The dissection showed that the stomach capacity of stone frogs was relatively large. Generally speaking, they eat a lot at night and digest and absorb food during the day.

Fold edit this section Threat

Although stone frogs have a long history of being eaten and are very precious gifts, they are very demanding on their living environment. They are on the verge of extinction due to snakes, bird enemies, natural disasters, and human hunting. Wild stone frog resources are very scarce, while people's demand is increasing, resulting in a serious contradiction between supply and demand.

Fold to edit this section purpose

Stone frogs are one of the main edible frogs because of their delicious meat, fast growth rate and large size. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the meat of stone frogs is sweet, salty and flat, enters the lung, stomach and kidney meridians, has the effects of strengthening the spleen and eliminating stagnation, nourishing and strengthening the body, and uses it to treat symptoms such as indigestion, loss of appetite and weakness.

Nutritional composition, medicinal and health value and history of eating stone frog

(1) Nutritional components and medicinal and health value of stone frog

Stone frog is the edible frog with the highest nutritional content and medicinal and health value in my country's traditional recipes. It is rich in high protein, multiple vitamins and minerals. The Compendium of Materia Medica states that stone frog is the best for treating tuberculosis and malnutrition in children; the Chinese Medicinal Animals Records states that stone frog has the effects of nourishing yin and strengthening the body, cooling and detoxifying, replenishing yin deficiency, driving away tuberculosis and thinness, resolving sores and toxins, and replenishing weakness after illness. Its tadpoles can make hair black, and its eggs have the effect of improving eyesight. According to the test results of the authoritative department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, stone frog contains 17 kinds of amino acids, among which the content of 8 essential amino acids for the human body is high, and the content of glutamic acid reaches 11.9%. Modern scientific research has also found that the skin and meat of stone frog contain bradykinin that can cause the contraction of the isolated uterus. It can be seen that the nutritional value and medicinal and health value of stone frog cannot be replaced by other animals, and it will surely be continuously recognized and favored by people.

(2) History of stone frog consumption

In my country, eating stone frogs has a long history. According to historical records, stone frogs, which are praised for their medicinal properties and longevity, were precious mountain delicacies in the ancient imperial palace banquets, and were also rare game and gifts on the tables of the scholar-official class. If there was a stone frog delicacy at a banquet in an ordinary family, it would be enough to show the host's wealth, and the guests would also be honored to have it, and it would be praised as a rare stone frog banquet.

In modern society, although people's food structure has changed, the stone frog is still highly praised by people for its tender meat, delicious taste, unique nutritional components and medicinal and health value.

Fold edit this section Artificial breeding

Folding method

Although stone frog breeding seems simple (Figure 4), the success rate is actually not high, and beginners often suffer. Southern provinces have made many attempts to artificially breed stone frogs, but few have been truly successful and achieved significant economic benefits; the main reason is that the growth conditions of stone frogs are relatively special and have high environmental requirements. If their growth rules are not understood, it is difficult to breed them successfully. The following are some rules and experiences summarized by some farmers in the breeding process.

1. Stone frogs live in flowing water. They often live in small streams with slow water flow in mountainous areas or in the water pits of flowing streams. The vegetation on both sides of the stream is rich. They rarely leave the water, and their body color is often adapted to their living environment. The secondary sexual characteristics develop towards a strong embrace. The male is large, with extremely strong forelimbs and extremely developed nuptial thorns. These characteristics have a great relationship with the reproductive characteristics. When laying eggs, both males and females must lay eggs by the stream impacted by the flowing water. When mating, the male hugs the female strongly and uses the spines on his abdomen to strengthen the male's fixation so that they are not washed away by the water flow. Stone frogs have an internal vocal sac, and the sound is low and loud. The male calls "gu gu gu" and the female responds with "ka ka ka". Stone frogs have the habit of living in groups and foraging at night. Often several or dozens of them live together in one place. In a quiet and suitable environment, stone frogs also go out of the cave to forage during the day, and the night is the peak period of activity. Stone frogs are good at jumping and climbing. They are usually weak and stable in their activities. During the peak breeding season, they are active and have behaviors such as chirping and embracing. Stone frogs like to eat active animals and generally do not eat dead or immobile food. In the natural state, stone frogs have a wide range of diets. In addition to insects, centipedes, spiders, millipedes, snails, snails, clams, earthworms, and shrimps, they also prey on crabs, miscellaneous fish, loaches, young snakes, and small birds. Stone frogs in different regions have different diets due to the different baits that the environment can provide. In nature, stone frogs generally eat 9% of their body weight, sometimes up to 12.8%. Stone frog (Figure 5) Tadpoles: Stone frog tadpoles sometimes eat stream grass or water moss at the bottom of the water. They use their horn teeth to gnaw and eat soft plant tissues. The types of food that tadpoles gnaw include plant-based small ring algae, filamentous algae, water moss, mosses, diatoms, dinoflagellates, goldfish algae, and plant debris; animal-based foods include paramecium, ciliates, water fleas, rotifers, etc. Some people have also found that stone frog tadpoles feed on epiphytes that scrape up stones in the water, plankton in the water, young leaves of plants that fall into the water, or dead animals in the stream. Sometimes they also eat their own dead species.

Stone frogs are cold-blooded animals. They have no ability to regulate body temperature or keep warm. Their body temperature changes with the external temperature. The suitable growth temperature of stone frogs is 18~26℃, and the optimum temperature is 24~25℃. Spring and autumn are the seasons when they are most active, eat the most, and grow the fastest. April to June and August to September are the best times for reproduction. When the water temperature exceeds 30℃, feeding activities decrease. When the water temperature drops to 12℃, the frog's metabolism is very weak and it enters hibernation. During hibernation, the frog closes its eyes, does not eat or move, relies on fat bodies to maintain life activities, and does not respond to external stimuli. If the water temperature rises to a suitable temperature during hibernation, the frog will become active again. The lethal high temperature of adult stone frogs is around 31℃, which varies in different seasons. Stone frogs can also tolerate a long-term 0℃ environment, but the water cannot freeze. Ice and lack of oxygen will cause the stone frog to die.

Stone frog (Figure 6) Stone frog eggs are often laid in shallow water with slow currents, attached to stones and aquatic plants. The gelatinous membrane outside the eggs swells and thickens when exposed to water, and is highly sticky, connected in a rope or grape-like shape, sometimes up to 20 cm long. The diameter of the eggs is generally 4 mm, and can reach up to 5 mm. Depending on the water temperature, frog eggs usually hatch into tadpoles after 8 to 15 days. Tadpoles like to live in large rocks or gravel piles in streams and pits. In a suitable environment, tadpoles generally grow for 50 to 78 days and metamorphose into young frogs.

2 Stone frog bait

The bait of stone frogs is mainly earthworms, mealworms, maggots, etc. Their breeding methods are introduced in many books, so I will not go into details here.

3 Construction of the Stone Frog Pond

Wild stone frogs live in cool mountain streams or caves with waterfalls all year round. Their living environment requires sufficient water flow, coolness, humidity, and fresh water. They like to live in groups in stone caves. They grow, develop, breed, and reproduce in the wild for a long time.

Artificial domestication of stone frogs has changed dramatically from wild to domesticated. The living environment of stone frogs has undergone tremendous changes. For artificial breeding of stone frogs, the frog pond must be reasonably designed to make the frog pond close to the natural environment and easy to manage.

3.1 Selection of breeding site

The quality of the environment directly affects the growth, development and reproduction of stone frogs. Frog ponds are not restricted by location. Generally speaking, the breeding site should be selected in a place with good water quality, convenient drainage and irrigation, quiet environment, warm winter and cool summer, no drought or waterlogging, easy management, and escape and pest prevention.

Frog ponds can be built indoors or outdoors. Indoors, they must be ventilated, cool, and away from direct sunlight. Outdoors, a pergola can be set up with a frog pond built underneath. Building a pond indoors, in a courtyard, or in the wild with whatever you have is a good living place for stone frogs.

3.2 Specifications of Frog Pond

Artificial breeding of stone frogs generally adopts intensive breeding. When building a pond, attention should be paid to making it as suitable as possible for the living habits of the frogs, providing water, land, stone holes, feeding and other conditions to create a good living environment, and it should also be easy to breed and manage.

3.2.1 Frog pond

The area is generally 4 to 10 square meters, the pool is 0.8 meters high, the water depth is 0.1 to 0.15 meters, the water-to-land area ratio is 3:1, and there are stone caves for habitats. The bottom of the pool is paved with large pebbles. The light is dim and the humidity is maintained at 80%, creating an ideal ecological environment for stone frogs to live in, promote their growth and development, and thus increase the egg-laying rate and fertilization rate.

3.2.2 Hatching pool

The area is 1 square meter, the pool height is 0.5 meters, the water depth is 15-20 centimeters, the water quality is fresh, the pH is 6-8, and it contains sufficient oxygen. You can also use a large oval basin instead.

3.2.3 Tadpole Pool

The area is 3~4 square meters, the pool height is 0.8 meters, the water depth is 3~10 centimeters, the pH is 6~7, the water-land ratio is 2:1, and it needs to be shaded for breeding. It is better to raise a group of tadpoles of the same size in each pool.

3.2.4 Frog pond

The area is 4~6 square meters, the pool is 0.8 meters high, the water depth is generally 10~15 centimeters, the water-to-land ratio is 2:1, the pool is paved with 3~5 cm pebbles, and there are stone caves. The water quality is good, and the pH value is 6~7.5.

The shape of all kinds of frog ponds is preferably rectangular, with a slightly inclined bottom and the drainage hole at the lowest point so that the water can be completely drained. The pond is equipped with water surface, land, stone caves, food tables, etc., and a net cover is installed at the top of the pond to prevent frogs from jumping and escaping and predators from invading. The water inlet pipe is installed on the top of the pond, close to the bottom of the net cover. Newly built ponds cannot be used immediately. They must be disinfected with disinfectant (to remove alkalinity) and rinsed with water several times before they can be used to raise frogs.

Folding breeding points

Stone frogs are national protected animals and are also delicious delicacies on people's tables. Artificial breeding of stone frogs is not only of great significance to protecting the ecological environment, but also has high economic benefits. Artificial breeding is the key to successful breeding of stone frogs. The key technologies are introduced as follows.

(1) Preparation of frog breeding pond and hatching pond

Frog breeding ponds and hatching ponds should be built in a dark, quiet place with good water quality, with an area of ​​2-3 square meters. The pond should be thoroughly disinfected and cleaned, and then filled with clean water. The water depth should be kept at about 20 cm. It is best to put some stones and fresh aquatic plants.

(2) Breeding and spawning

Stone frogs usually start mating and laying eggs in April when the temperature is above 20℃. The ratio of male to female is 1:1, and the density is 15-20 per square meter. The frogs usually pair up after 21:00 at night, and the female frogs lay eggs between 4-7:00 in the morning. The eggs are usually attached to water plants, stones, and the wall of the pool. The eggs should not be stirred within 1 hour after laying to avoid damage and breakage, which will reduce the hatching rate.

(3) Artificial incubation

Observe and check the frog pond every morning. If there are frog eggs, they can be gently fished out after 8 am and placed on the hatching tray in the hatching pond. During the hatching process, a small amount of clean water should flow to ensure cleanliness. The water temperature should be controlled between 15-30℃ and the pH value should be 6-8. One pond should have one nest (500-1000 eggs). Generally, the black spots of the fertilized egg ovules become larger half an hour after spawning. The embryos become strip-shaped in 7 days. The tadpoles are basically formed in 9 days. The membranes break and tadpoles are formed after 15 days. The hatching rate is more than 85%.

(4) Tadpole breeding

Tadpole growth can generally be divided into four stages.

① Initial stage (1-10 days old): After the tadpoles break the membrane, they rely on the energy in the eggs to grow gradually in the first 3 days. After they start to forage, they use the egg membrane and unfertilized eggs as their main food.

② Early growth period (10-20 days old) 10 days after the tadpoles are born, their appetite increases, but their digestive function is weak, so they should be fed with high-protein liquid feed, such as egg yolk, soy milk, etc. Feed them once a day at a fixed time, usually one egg yolk for every 1,500 tadpoles, and then gradually increase the amount.

③ In the middle growth period (20-55 days old), as the tadpoles’ digestive function continues to increase, in order to promote the development of the digestive organs as quickly as possible and adapt to the herbivorous biological characteristics of amphibian tadpoles, after 20 days of age, the amount of high-protein juice feed should be gradually reduced or stopped, and cooked plant and algae feed should be gradually replaced, such as potato stems and leaves, melon fruit leaves, rice and fresh aquatic plants, etc. Feed residues in the pond should be removed every day to ensure that the pond water is not polluted.

④ The late growth period (55-75 days old) is also called the metamorphosis period. Tadpoles enter the metamorphosis period after 55 days of age, growing hind limbs, forelimbs, and shrinking tails. During this period, management must be particularly careful and thoughtful. It is necessary to ensure graded feeding, shallow and fresh water, half water and half land, convenient landing, dim light, and quiet environment to create an ecological environment suitable for tadpoles' metamorphosis.

(5) Frog breeding

The young frogs that have just metamorphosed are small and weak in resistance, so they need to be managed more strictly. They should be fed with active feeds such as small maggots, small mealworms, and small maggot butterflies. Feed them every evening, and the amount depends on their feeding situation. As the young frogs' food intake increases, the amount of feed should be gradually increased to ensure that there is a slight surplus. The feeding table should be cleaned every morning and disinfected frequently to prevent the remaining food from spoiling and contaminating the pool water. In the future, the young frogs should be raised in different grades according to their size, with a density of 100-300 per square meter. Cover the frog pond with gauze to prevent escape and rodent damage.

Fold to edit this section Population distribution

Stone frogs are widely distributed in our region, especially in the western Jinggangshan, Ninggang, and Anfu mountainous areas. They are distributed in Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian, Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Guangxi.

Overseas distribution: Vietnam.

Guangxi distribution area: Wuming, Mashan, Shanglin, Rongshui, Yangshuo, Lingui, Lingchuan, Quanzhou, Xing'an, Yongfu, Guanyang, Ziyuan, Gongcheng, Fangcheng, Shangsi, Qinzhou, Tianlin, Xilin, Longlin, Hezhou, Zhongshan, Fuchuan, Tian'e, Luocheng, Huanjiang, Ningming.

The stone frog is not a protected animal in my country, and its threat level is Vulnerable.

The stone frog (Quasipaa spinosa) is a species of the family Ranidae in the order Anura. Adult frogs live on the rocks near mountain streams at an altitude of 600 to 1500 meters. They hide in rock crevices or caves during the day and squat on rocks or between stones at night. They generally do not escape after seeing lightning.

This frog is mainly distributed in Yunnan, Guizhou, Anhui, Jiangsu (Yixing, Liyang), Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei (Tongshan), Hunan, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hong Kong in China; and in Vietnam (north) abroad.

Stone frogs hibernate in the cold winter, not eating or moving, with their eyes closed, and no response to the outside world. They mainly rely on the nutrients stored in their bodies to carry out an extremely weak and slow metabolism.

Additional information:

Economic value of stone frog:

1. Nutritional components and medicinal and health value of stone frog

Stone frog is the edible frog with the highest nutritional value and medicinal health value in my country's traditional diet. It is rich in high protein, multiple vitamins and minerals. "Stone frog has the effects of nourishing yin and strengthening the body, cooling and detoxifying, replenishing yin deficiency, expelling tuberculosis and emaciation, dissolving sores and toxins, and replenishing weakness after illness. Its tadpoles can make hair black, and its eggs have the effect of improving eyesight."

According to the test results of the authoritative department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the stone frog contains 17 kinds of amino acids, of which 8 kinds of amino acids are essential to the human body, and the content of glutamic acid is as high as 11.9%. Modern scientific research has also found that the skin and meat of the stone frog contain bradykinin, which can cause the isolated uterus to contract.

2. History of eating stone frogs

In my country, eating stone frogs has a long history. According to historical records, stone frogs, which are praised as "medicinal for curing sores and prolonging life", were precious mountain delicacies in the ancient imperial palace banquets, and were also precious game and gifts on the tables of the scholar-official class. If there was a stone frog delicacy at a banquet in an ordinary family, it would be enough to show the host's wealth, and the guests would also be honored to have it, and it was praised as "a rare stone frog banquet".

Reference source: Baidu Encyclopedia - Stone Frog

The stone frog (Quasipaa spinosa), a second-level key protected animal, has the standard name of the spiny-chested frog, also known as stone clam, stone chicken, pheasant, stone jelly, flying fish, stone scale, stone toad, stone shrimp, stone pit frog, stone chaos, and wood locust (southern Sichuan), etc. It is an animal of the Anura order Ranidae family of the class Amphibia.

The stone frog is a national second-class protected animal. It is a rare species in the southern mountainous areas and is known as the king of frogs.