Fejervarya raja
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The crab-eating frog (''Fejervarya cancrivora'') is a
frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...
native to south-eastern
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
including Taiwan, China, the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
and more rarely as far west as
Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...
in India. It has also been introduced to
Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
, and was most likely introduced from Taiwan. It inhabits mangrove swamps and marshes and is one of only 144 known modern amphibians which can tolerate brief excursions into
seawater Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has appr ...
. This frog can tolerate marine environments (immersion in sea water for brief periods or
brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estu ...
water for extended periods) by increasing
urea Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid. Urea serves an important ...
production and retention, and by remaining slightly hyperosmotic within urea and sodium flux. Adults can survive in salt water with salinity as high as 2.8%, and tadpoles can survive salinities as high as 3.9%.


Diet

The food sources of the crab-eating frog are mainly determined by the locally available prey. Near fresh water, its diet consists largely of insects. But in an environment with brackish water, small
crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
s, including crabs, form the main part.


Human consumption

In Southeast Asia, the crab-eating frog is locally hunted for food and is often farmed for its edible legs, including in Java, Indonesia.Kusrini, MD (2005)
Edible frog harvesting in Indonesia: evaluating its impact and ecological context
Ph.D. dissertation, James Cook University.


References

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External links


Amphibian and Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia - ''Fejervarya cancrivora''

Amphibian and Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia - ''Fejervarya raja''


Fejervarya Amphibians of Cambodia Amphibians of China Frogs of India Amphibians of Laos Amphibians of Malaysia Amphibians of the Philippines Amphibians of Taiwan Amphibians of Thailand Amphibians of Vietnam Amphibians described in 1829 Taxa named by Johann Ludwig Christian Gravenhorst {{dicroglossidae-stub