Feb 6
African Clawed Frog aka Platanna (Xenopus laevis), family Pipidae, South Africa
photographs by NKFherping
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African Clawed Frog aka Platanna (Xenopus laevis), family Pipidae, South Africa
photographs by NKFherping
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Hi there! My mom and I always laugh when we see this photo I took of a frog we saw at a zoo a few years ago, and I was wondering if you had any idea what kind it is (I did not get a picture of the exhibit label). Totally fine if not- just the joy of sharing of the silly Full Frontal Frog is enough for me 🐸
Yup, this is Xenopus laevis, the African clawed frog, a goober of a frog if ever there was one; a mixed blessing for the world. These are the frogs that used to be used as pregnancy tests, and are still extensively used in medical and other research. But because of this, they may also have had a major role in the spread of the amphibian-killing fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, which has driven numerous frog species to extinction over the last century.
@crawlertober Day 5: Side Character -Milk
Me: Has anyone see my donut?
The suspiciously donut-shaped frog in my living room:
Every time I got downstairs, the frogs instantly pile up and stare at me with A) heart eyes B) interrogation C) malevolent intent. I still can't tell which is which.
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Xenopus andrei by Adam Bewick
Building Ridges
It runs 24/7 offering a transport service to eggs, sperm and mucus-trapped microbes – it’s your network of motile cilia. These hair-like projections found on the surface of certain cells help move fluids, such as mucus in your lungs. Researchers now investigate how these cilia are secured in place during development using Xenopus laevis frog embryos. The team used fluorescence microscopy to image the architecture of Xenopus multiciliated cells (MCCs) by labelling the protein actin. They found the actin architecture was very dynamic during early development but gradually became more static near the base of developing motile cilia. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the actin here was anchored in place with the help of tiny ridges called microridges. Interfering with actin-binding proteins resulted in fewer, thinner microridges (pictured, red). What’s more, this subsequently disturbed the orientation of developing cilia. Microridges are therefore an essential structure for securing motile cilia in place.
Written by Lux Fatimathas
Image from work by Takayuki Yasunaga, Johannes Wiegel and Max Bergen, and colleagues
Department of Medicine IV, University Freiburg Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Published in Nature Communications, April 2022
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Müller’s clawed-frog (Xenopus muelleri) by Stephen Zozaya Mang'ula, Tanzania.