Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela

Poblacion II, Malinta, Valenzuela City

ZOOLOGY

BERNARDO, John Kenneth D. Mr. Darryl G. Bayona

Suarez, Jenny R. September 20, 2016

BSED Biological Science 3-1

OBJECTIVES

1. To investigate the anatomy of a frog

2. To investigate the organ systems of a frog
3. To observe the relationship between the structure of an organ and its functions.

MATERIALS

 Frog  Scalpel
 Dissecting Tray  Lab gown, Mask and Gloves
 Pins  Formalin/Chloroform
 Scissor  Camera, pen and paper

PROCEDURES

1. Put on safety goggles and gloves if wanted.

2. Place a frog on a dissection tray. To determine the

frog’s sex, look at the hand digits, or fingers on its
forelegs. A male frog usually has thick pads on its
“thumbs”, which is one external difference between
the sexes. Male frogs are also usually smaller than
male frogs.

Our frog is a female.

 3. Find the mouth, external nares, tympani, eyes and nictitating membranes.

Eye Tympanum

External Nare

Nictitating Membrane

Mouth

4. Turn the frog on its back and pin down the legs. Cut the hinges of the mouth and open it wide.
Use the probe to help find each part: the vomerine teeth, the maxillary teeth, the internal nares,
the tongue, and the openings to the Eustachian tubes, the esophagus, the pharynx and the slit-
like glottis.

Eustachian
aperture

Internal Nares

Glottis (Pharynx
and Esophagus
further)

Maxillary Teeth

Vomerine Teeth
5. Look for the opening for the frog’s cloaca, located between the hind legs. Use forceps to lift the
skin and use scissors to cut along the center of the body from the cloaca to the lip. Turn back the
skin, cut toward the side at each leg, and pin the skin flat.

Cloaca

6. Lift and cut through the muscles and breast bone to open up the body cavity. If your frog is a
female, the abdominal cavity may be filled with dark-colored eggs. If so, remove the eggs so you
can see the organs underlying them.

Dark-colored eggs
7. Identify the organs of the digestive system: esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large
intestine, cloaca, liver, gallbladder and pancreas.

Esophagus Stomach Small Intestine

Large Intestine Pancreas Cloaca Gallbladder Liver

8. Find the left atrium, right atrium and ventricle of the heart. Find the artery attached to the heart
and another artery near the backbone. Find a vein near one of the shoulders. Find the two lungs.

Artery Right Ventricle Left

Vein Lungs
Atrium Atrium

9. Use a probe and scissors to lift and remove the intestines and liver. Remove the peritoneal
membrane, which is a connective tissue that lies on top of the kidneys. Observe the yellow fat
bodies that are attached to the kidneys. Find the ureters, the urinary bladder, the oviducts and
uteri in the female.

Kidneys

Fat Bodies

Ureters

Uteri

Urinary Bladder

Oviduct
10. Dispose of your materials according to the directions from your teacher.

11. Clean up your work area and wash your hands before leaving the lab.

Answer the following:

1. In what ways is the frog similar to other vertebrates? How is it different?

Like all vertebrates, frogs also have a dorsal hollow nerve cord, same kinds of organs and
organ systems, endoskeleton system and a closed circulatory system. However, they are
different because they have no ears, are cold blooded and have to be near or in water most of
their lives.

2. What structures provide evidence that the frog has a partially aquatic lifestyle?

They have webbed-feet and their skin. It is permeable to oxygen and carbon dioxide, as well
as to water. On land, adult frogs use their lungs to breathe. When a frog is underwater, oxygen
is transmitted through the skin directly into the bloodstream. Because the oxygen is dissolved
in an aqueous film on the skin and passes from there to the blood, the skin must remain moist
at all times. The frog also has a nictitating membrane which is a clear eyelid that helps the frog
see under the water.

3. What are some of the major amphibian characteristics that a frog exhibits?

Like other amphibians, frogs have a 3-chambered heart, moist, slippery skin, cold-blooded and
prefer wetlands, shallow ponds and marshes. A frog in a dormant state also requires very little
oxygen for breathing and prefers cutaneous respiration.

4. During one mating of frogs, the female lays some 2,000 to 3,000 eggs in water as the male sheds
millions of sperm over them. How do these large numbers related to the frog’s fitness for life in water?

Producing large amounts of gametes and many offspring shows that the frogs are not very fit
for life on land. It is easier to protect eggs on land, however these frogs are incapable of this
because the eggs will dry out and the larval stage (tadpole) is aquatic. In addition, Frogs are
very fit for life in water reproductively, because the large numbers of eggs and offspring will
help to ensure some individuals survive to reproductive adulthood.

5. Sequence the passage of food in the fog from the time it swallows a bug to the time it expels its
remains.

The food enters the mouth, goes through the esophagus to the stomach. The food is then
digested and pushed into the small intestine. From the small intestine, it is then pushed into
the large intestine. Once in the large intestine, water and more nutrients are absorbed and the
frog then expels the any unused portions of the food.
Post Lab Questions

6. Membrane that holds the coils of small intestine together is called the mesentery.

7. This organ is found under the liver, it stores bile. Gall Bladder

8. The organ that is the first major site of chemical digestion. Stomach

9. Eggs, sperm, urine, and wastes all empty into this structure. Cloaca

10. The small intestine leads to the large intestine.

11. The esophagus leads to the stomach.

12. Yellowish structures that serve as an energy reserve. Fat Bodies

13. After food passes through the stomach it enters the small intestine.

14. The first part of the small intestine (straight part): duodenum. The second part is called the ileum.

15. The membrane that covers the organs is the peritoneum.

16. The large intestine leads to the cloaca.

17. Organ found within the mesentery that stores blood: Spleen

18. The largest organ in the body cavity: Liver

“Analyzing humor is like dissecting a

frog. Few people are interested and
the frog dies of it.”

- E. B. White