Republic of the Philippines

Leyte Normal University

Tacloban City

Laboratory Report:

FROG DISSECTION

Submitted by:
Paul John A. Decena
BSEd 4-1
TFri 01:00-04:00

Submitted to:
Dr. Maricel A. Gomez
Professor
I. INTRODUCTION
Dissection (from the Latin dissecare to cut to pieces, also called
anatomization), is the dismembering of the body of an organism to study its anatomical
structure. It is usually carried out by or demonstrated to biology and anatomy students in
high school and medical school. Dissection has been used for centuries to explore
anatomy.
Frog is one of the organisms which is oftenly used for dissection. .
Frog, small, tailless animal with a squat body and long, powerful hind legs adapted for
jumping. Frogs have large, bulging eyes and moist skin. As member of the class
Amphibia, frogs may live some of their adult lives on land, but they must return to water
to reproduce. Eggs are laid and fertilized in water.Most frogs develop from small, fishlike
larvae called tadpoles or pollywogs that live in water. This life divided between water and
land is typical of amphibians, a group of related animals that includes toads, newts, and
salamanders as well as frogs.

II. OBJECTIVES
In this laboratory activity, we are able to observe the outside structure and
characteristics of a frog. Through dissection, we can also observe the internal structure
such as the different organs as well as how they are arranged inside the frogs body.

III. MATERIALS
The following laboratory tools were used in the activity:
dissecting kit (which includes the forceps, scissors, scalpel, and needle)
dissecting pan
frog (suffocated)

IV. PROCEDURES
A.) External Anatomy:
1. Examine and observe the external structure of the frog.
B.1.) Internal Anatomy (Digestive System)
1. Place the frog dorsal side and insert pins into its feet to keep the frog in
place. Then make incisions with sharp scissors as seen in the picture
below. Be careful not to cut too deep---you may tear and damage the
internal organs! The two posterior lateral (across the body) cuts need to
 be made long enough so that the pieces of skin and muscle hold easily
aside and out of the way. Pin them down.
2. The first major organ that you will notice is the multi lobed liver. The liver
will be darker in color and have three lobes: the right lobe, the left
anterior lobe, and the left posterior lobe. The liver produces glycogen
and a fat dissolving substance called bile. The bile is stored in the
gallbladder, a small thin sack located beneath the liver. Locate it.
3. Locate the largest of the digestive organs, the stomach. It has a half
moon shaped and is usually found on the left (frogs left!) side of the
body cavity. The stomach is continuous with the small intestine (named
for its diameter, not length!). The small intestine is coiled up and is
connected with the large intestine where the final stages of the digestion
occur. Waste is excreted through the cloaca, which you located earlier.
4. The small pancreas (you may not able to see it) attached to the curve
of the stomach produces acid neutralizing substances and these
substances are delivered to the stomach from the gallbladder along with
bile via the bile duct.
5. Locate the fingery looking structure called fat bodies, which are usually
underneath the stomach. These are made out of fat cells (adipose cells)
and are used to store energy.
6. Digestion really begins with at mouth. Open it and observe the tongue.
frogs do not have teeth, so food is swallowed whole! Food enters the
esophagus, a tube that is continuous with the stomach. Food is moved
down the esophagus by a process called peristalsis, which is
coordinated muscular contractions of muscles in the esophagus.
7. Food enters the stomach and then stored briefly in the pylorus, which
looks like a lump on the stomach. The food then leaves the stomach and
enters the small intestine through the duodenum. Nutrients are
absorbed from the food by the small intestine. The leftovers enter the
large intestine, which is shorter and fatter, where is absorbed from the
food. Waste then exists via the cloaca.
8. Locate the dark red spleen in the tissues of the mesentery, the
membranous tissue that connects the segments of the small intestine.
The spleen serves as the holding area for the blood.
9. Carefully remove the liver, stomach, and intestines IF NECESSARY; Do
not damage other organs or cut important blood vessels!
B.2.) Internal Anatomy (The Heart and Circulatory System)
1. The circulatory system is comprised of the heart, blood vessels, and
blood. First, locate the two small pink lungs, which are on either side of
the heart. Carefully remove one without damaging surrounding tissue
and blood vessels. Use a dropper to inflate the lung with air (you might
not be able to do this).
 2. Locate the heart. The heart is a complex organ made out of one of the
three classes of muscle: cardiac muscle (the others are: smooth muscle,
which makes up the tubing, like blood vessels and intestines; skeletal
muscle, which controls locomotion). The heart has three chambers: the
right and left atria, and the ventricle. Locate the apex (point) of the heart,
which is part of the ventricle. (FYI- the mammalian heart has four
chambers- two atria and two ventricles).
3. The right atria receives oxygen poor blood via a vein (veins bring blood
to the heart; arteries take blood away from the heart!). The left atrium
receives oxygenated blood from the lungs via a pulmonary vein.
4. Locate the two branches of the aorta (an artery), which transports blood
through the body cavity and gives off many branches. Also locate the
huge ventral abdominal vein.
5. Note how the frog circulatory system has two loops, the
pulmocutaneous- (pulmo-lungs, cutaneous-skin) and the systemic
loops.
B.3.) Internal Anatomy (The Urogenital (Reproductive) System)
Female: 1. You will have notice immediately if you have a female frog.
Locate the ovaries (a thin membrane) which contain hundreds of darkly
colored eggs.
2. The eggs move through the oviducts (spaghetti-like tubes) before exiting
through the cloaca.
Male: 1. If your frog lacks this large egg bodies look carefully for two yellow
small bean shaped organs. These are the testes, where the sperm is
produced.
2. The sperm pass through the vas efferentia to the kidneys and ultimately
out through the cloaca.
3. (If your frog is a female, remove the eggs carefully) and locate the two
dark kidneys, which are usually surrounded by blood vessles. The
kidneys filter the blood of excess salts and other chemicals and send
that waste via ureters to the thin sack like bladder.
4. Locate the adrenal glands, which are small structures attached to or
nearby the kidneys. The adrenal glands produce and release hormones
that can provide the frog with a quick burst of energy in an emergency.
5. Like all organs, the kidneys are connected to the circulatory system by
blood vessels. Locate the renal artery (which brings blood from the
heart) and the renal vein, which takes blood back to the heart (via the
lungs).
 B.4.) Internal Anatomy (The Muscular and Skeletal Sytems)
1. Carefully remove the skin from one leg of your frog without damaging the
muscles beneath. Use scissors for the task. Make sure you remove the skin
all the way down to the frogs foot.
2. Look at the frogs leg from the ventral (the underside of the frog). Locate
the muscles listed:
Sartorius
Adductor longus (thin, flat)
Adductor magnus
Gracilis major
Gracilis minor
Semitendinosus
It may be necessary to separate muscles from one another, as they are held
together and covered by membrane. Use pin as in the picture below to mark
the muscles you have found. (Do not poke the muscles with the pins!)
3. After locating the ventral muscles, flip your frog over and locate the
dorsal muscles.
4. The frogs leg is made up of four major bones, listed here proximal
(nearer the torso) to distal (further from the torso): femur, tibiofibula,
calcaneus, and astragalis. The calcaneus and astragalis run side by side
in the third segment of the frogs leg.
5. Cut neatly through the gastrocnemius and peroneuos to expose the
tibiofibula bone.
6. Cut neatly through all the ventral thigh muscles to expose the femur.
You should also notice the femoral artery (pink) and the femoral vein
(blue). Which of these two supplies the leg with blood? Which one drains
the leg of blood?

V. OBSERVATIONS
Frogs External Anatomy

Frogs hands Frogs eye Frogs tongue

 Frogs skin Frogs feet Frogs leg

Table1: External Anatomy of the Frog

Body Parts Characteristic(s)
Hands Each hand is composed of four fingers and they are nearly same in
length.
Eye The frogs eye is covered by a special third membrane called the
nictitating membrane which protects the eye from water when the frog
is submerged and keeps it moistened when out of water.
Tongue The tongue is attached at the front of the mouth.
Skin The skin is slimy because it is also a respiratory surface and is covered
with mucus which can absorb oxygen and water.
Feet Each foot is composed of five toes which varies in length.
Leg The leg is powerful that allows the frog to jump up to six feet.

Frogs Internal Anatomy

Liver

Lungs

Fat bodies
Ovaries
Frogs stomach Frogs small intestine

Frogs heart
Frogs large intestine
 Dorsal Muscles of Frogs Thigh and Shank

semimebranosus

triceps femoris
biceps femoris

gastrocnemius
peroneus

Frogs Foot Skeleton

Tarsal

Metatarsal

Phalanges