Scientists in Australia have discovered a tree frog with bright blue skin instead of its usual green color, new photos show.
According to experts, the blue pigmentation is caused by a rare genetic mutation.
Land managers at a nature reserve in Kimberley, Western Australia, spotted the mutant amphibian when it hopped into their workshop and sat on a bench to watch them. ABC News reported Friday (July 12). Scientists later identified the animal as a beautiful tree frog (Beautiful Litoria).
The land managers sent photos of the blue frog to Jake Barkeran intern in nature conservation and ecology at the Australian Nature Conservation (AWC). “When I saw the picture of the frog, my heart rate definitely went up,” Barker told ABC News. “It was so cool, it was really exciting and special.”
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Beautiful tree frogs are usually green with white spots on their backs, according to AWC. They grow to about 4 inches (10 centimeters) long and have a characteristic venom gland on top of their head. The venom tastes extremely bitter and serves as a defense mechanism against predators, such as larger amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
The frogs can live for up to 20 years and live in areas with low rainfall in the northern Kimberley region and the nearby Northern Territory.
This is the first time researchers have seen a beautiful tree frog with blue skin, AWC reported. The mutant frog had an olive-green poison gland on its head, a few white spots on its back and yellow toe pads, the photos showed.
Most frog species are green thanks to a combination of blue and yellow pigments in their skin, Barker told ABC News. The blue coloration in this individual was caused by a rare mutation called axanthism, in which the yellow pigments are suppressed, he said.
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“It’s just a beautiful natural phenomenon,” Jodi Rowleya herpetologist and curator of amphibian and reptile conservation biology at the Australian Museum, said Yahoo News.
Rowley has only seen one other blue frog in the wild, possibly because these frogs are not well camouflaged in the wild and are picked off by predators, she said. The newly discovered beautiful frog was 4.7 inches (12 cm) long, which is “really big” and indicates “it’s a couple of years old,” she said.
“It’s a very healthy frog,” Rowley said. “It’s definitely a flashy frog. It’s one of the most beautiful frogs I’ve ever seen.”
