A rare blue frog found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia has stunned researchers, who say the unusual colouring is probably due to a genetic mutation causing it to lose certain skin pigments.
As its name suggests, the magnificent tree frog (Litoria splendida) is already a spectacular animal, so when at the Australian Wildlife Conservancyās Charnley River-Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary saw a bright blue specimen on a bench in a workshop in April, he was shocked.
The amphibians are normally a vibrant green, which is a common colour for tree frogs and is thought to camouflage them.
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āI knew as soon as I saw it that it was rare,ā says Barker. āItās not often that you get to see a blue frog.ā It has been seen a number of times since, but wonāt be captured for research, he says.
āItās far too pretty and far too unique and it would be a pity to take it away from its natural habitat,ā says Barker. āWeāll leave it to live out its days and hopefully get to see it many more times in the future.ā
at the Australian Museum in Sydney says the animal may be the āmost beautiful, aberrant-coloured frogā that she has ever seen. āAnd I have seen tens of thousands of frogs.ā
From the photos she has seen, Rowley says the frog is at least 2 to 3 years old. The species may live to be 20 years old, so the blue individual is likely to be around for a while unless caught by a predator.
She says frogsā skin colour is determined by the combination of three chemicals ā melanophores, which provide blacks and browns; xanthophores, which provide yellow pigments; and iridophores, which reflect blue colours. Normally, the yellows and blues combine to make green, but it is thought the new blue frog has a mutation that means it is missing the yellow pigments and the blue dominates.
āBlue is probably a bit more obvious to predators,ā says Rowley, āwhich is why we donāt see many blue frogs.ā
