Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The skin colour of amphibians is produced by three layers of pigment cells called chromatophores. These three cell layers consist of the melanophores (occupying the deepest layer), the guanophores (forming an intermediate layer and containing many granules, producing a blue-green colour) and the lipophores (yellow, the most superficial layer).
The skin fragments that were found in their stomach are an indication that these frogs commit cannibalism or eat their own skin which is common among amphibians. Based on these results, P. pipa is an ambush predator that will opportunistically eat anything that falls into the water or that it may encounter when occasionally foraging on land. [14]
The jaw of a mudpuppy also plays a significant role in its diet. The mudpuppy jaw is considered metaautostyly, like most amphibians, meaning the jaw is more stable and that the salamander has a dentary. [15] This affects their diet by limiting the flexibility of the jaw to take in larger prey.
The skin also has numerous ring-shaped folds, or annuli, that partially encircle the body, giving them a segmented appearance. Like some other living amphibians, the skin contains glands that secrete a toxin to deter predators. [15] The skin secretions of Siphonops paulensis have been shown to have hemolytic properties. [26]
The skin becomes thicker and tougher, the lateral line system is lost, and skin glands are developed. [145] The final stage is the disappearance of the tail, but this takes place rather later, the tissue being used to produce a spurt of growth in the limbs. [ 158 ]
The skin is dry and covered with small wart-like lumps. The colour is a fairly uniform shade of brown, olive-brown or greyish-brown, sometimes partly blotched or banded with a darker shade. The common toad tends to be sexually dimorphic with the females being browner and the males greyer. [ 16 ]
The majority of amphibians use cutaneous respiration, or the process of breathing through the skin. Due to the importance of the skin, amphibians are very sensitive to what goes through their permeable skin, the stratum corneum is the main skin barrier which is much thinner than other classes such as mammals or birds.
The skin, at least in the more advanced forms probably had a water-tight epidermal horny overlay, similar to the one seen in today's reptiles, though they lacked horny claws. [ 32 ] [ 33 ] In chroniosuchians and some seymouriamorphs , like Discosauriscus , dermal scales are found in post-metamorphic specimens, indicating they may have had a ...