Description: The mink frog is a small frog, growing up to 1.9 to 3.0 inches. The dorsum is generally green in color, with darker green and brown blotching and the belly is a cream, yellow, or white. They are sexually dimorphic in that males typically have a bright yellow colored throat, while females have a white colored throat, and the tympanum of the male is larger than the eye, while the female's is smaller than or the same size as the eye. The frogs have a pale-colored underside and bright green lips.
Habitat: The mink frog is predominantly aquatic, living among the vegetation (especially among lily pads) in ponds, swamps, and streams around wooded areas.
Range: Mink frogs are found in the United States in the states of Minnesota, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, Vermont, and New York. They are also found in Canada in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba. This largely aquatic frog's southern range limit is at the highest latitude of any North American frog and there is evidence that more southern populations of this frog became extinct within the past century.
Diet: They feed on a wide variety of things, including spiders, snails, beetles, and other invertebrates. As tadpoles they consume primarily algae and decaying plant matter.
Reproduction: Mating generally takes place in late spring and early summer. These frogs prefer cold, well-oxygenated wetland breeding sites where during the late night hours, but occasionally during the day, males call to attract females while floating on the water's surface or partially resting on floating vegetation. Between 500 and 4000 eggs can be laid by the female at any one time, generally in deep water. Egg masses are usually found close to floating vegetation and hatch within days of being deposited. Tadpoles remain in the larval stage for approximately one year before metamorphosing into froglets. Maturity is reached in a year for males, and two years for females.
Status: In recent years, it seems that the general populations of mink frogs are in decline. In a 1999 study conducted by David Gardiner and David Hoppe it was noted that there was an increase in mink frog deformities. "The spectrum of deformities includes missing limbs, truncated limbs, extra limbs (including extra pelvic girdles), and skin webbings. We also describe a newly recognized malformation of the proximal-distal limb axis, a bony triangle. In this abnormality, the proximal and distal ends of the bone are adjacent to one another forming the base of a triangle. The shaft of the bone is bent double and protrudes laterally, the midpoint of the bone forming the apex of the triangle." The study comes to the conclusion that these deformities are a result of exposure to exogenous retinoids, but more study is needed to make a sure determination.
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Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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