Frog

Dissection Lab
Biology 11

Name: _______________________________________________________
Lab Report Checklist
3 Diagrams - Each on a separate piece of white paper, done in pencil (no shading). Labels on
the right hand side. Clear and specific title for each diagram. Magnification indicated if
necessary. (25 Points)
Diagram

Point Value

External Anatomy of the Frog

/10

Mouth of the Frog

/5

Internal Anatomy of the Frog

/10

Procedure Questions - Answered ALL procedure questions to the best of your ability. In
COMPLETE sentences. Answers must be neatly written on looseleaf or typed on plain paper.
(8 Points)
Key Functions - State the key function or functions of the following structures of a frog.
Answers should be neatly written on looseleaf or typed on plain paper. (9 Points)
Key Function(s) of:
Cloaca

Gallbladder

Glottis

Liver

Nares

Spleen

Pyloric Valve

Pancreas

Tongue

Conclusion - Answer the following question on looseleaf or typed on plain paper:

List and explain 3 things that you learned about the anatomy of the frog. What are two things you
would do to improve this lab in the future? (5 Points)

Total Mark

Feedback:

Diagrams

/25

Procedure Questions

/5

Key Functions

/9

Conclusion

/5

TOTAL

/44

Frog Dissection Lab

Biology 11

Name: _______________________________________________________
Notes:
This copy is your working copy! It is your ROUGH COPY ONLY! You must make a final
copy to hand in after you complete the lab.
Follow the Lab Report Checklist to confirm what items you need to pass in for evaluation.
Please ask for help during the dissection if you do not know what you are looking at or where
to cut.
You will be tested on this material.
Everyone in your group must pass in their OWN lab report.
When it is time to draw a diagram, everyone in the group stops the dissection and draws their
own copy of the diagram.
Objectives:
1. Locate and identify major external and internal features of a frog.
2. Understand and use basic dissection techniques and terms.
3. Critically examine the functions of several frog features and organs.
Materials: Frog, scissors, toothpicks (probes and pointers), drawing paper, dissecting trays, paper
towel.
Procedure:
Part 1: External Anatomy
1. Line a dissecting tray with paper towel. Rinse a preserved frog with water and place the frog
in the tray.
2. Skin: Feel the skin of the frog. Note the absence of scales, hair, and feathers. The smooth
moist skin aids in respiration. Frogs obtain oxygen in a variety of ways; by absorbing oxygen
through the skin, through the membrane covering the inside of the mouth and through the
lungs. While frogs are inactive, absorption through the skin meets their oxygen needs.
3. Head: The two holes near the mouth end of the head are the external nares, the outer nose
openings. Just behind the eyes are the ear drums, which are round, flattened areas in the skin.
4. Draw a diagram of the external view of the frog. Label the following structures:
head, external nares, ear drums, mouth, eyes, nictitating membrane, forelimb, hindlimb, digits.

5. To examine the interior of the mouth, use scissors to cut the edges of the mouth at each
hinge joint. Open the mouth wide, if necessary, pry the jaws apart with scissors. Rub your
finger along the roof of the mouth. You will feel a row of small teeth called the maxillary teeth.
Below these are two sharp mounds called the vomerine teeth. Close to the teeth are two
openings, the internal nares. Insert a probe into the internal nare.
6. Answer the following question: Where does the probe that you inserted into the internal nare
emerge?
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7. The wide opening in the centre of the mouth is the top of the esophagus, the tube that leads
to the stomach. Below the esophagus is a vertical slit called the glottis, which leads to the lungs.
The frogs tongue fills most of its lower jaw. In living frogs the tongue is sticky.
8. Answer the following question: Where is the tongue attached to the jaw? How would this
place of attachment and the tongues stickiness be useful to the frog?
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9. Draw a diagram of the mouth. Label the following parts: maxillary teeth, vomerine
teeth, internal nares, esophagus, glottis, tongue.
10. Examine the frogs front and hind limbs. Note the webbing between the toes.
11. Answer the following question: What is the purpose of the webbing between the toes?
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Part 2: Internal Anatomy

12. Place the frog in the pan with the ventral side facing up. With the scissors, cut the skin along
the centre line of the frog. Cut laterally from the central cut to each of the limbs. Check
out the diagram below for a hint at how to do this.

13. Now make the same cuts through the muscle wall of the body as you did through the skin.
Raise the body wall as you cut to avoid damaging the internal organs. Open the flaps you
have created to expose the internal organs.
14. In order to fully examine the internal organs, you will probably have to remove certain
structures. A large mass of black and white eggs may fill much of the abdomen. If so, your frog
is a female. Carefully remove the egg mass with the forceps.
15. There may also be several yellow, fingerlike organs. These are fat bodies. The fat bodies
store food, which is used during periods of inactivity. Carefully remove these.
16. Digestive System: In the middle of the body cavity is the liver. This is the largest organ in the
body. The reddish brown liver consists of two large lobes with a smaller lobe between them.
The liver produces bile, which aids in the digestion of fats. It also stores food in the form of
glycogen and plays a role in breaking down poisonous wastes.
17. Carefully lift the liver to see the other organs of the digestive tract. On the underside of the
liver is a greenish sac called the gall bladder. This stores the bile produced by the liver before it
passes into the small intestine.

18. The oval whitish sac on your right hand side is the stomach, where the food is partially
digested. At its top end, the stomach is connected to the esophagus, which channels the food
from the mouth. At its bottom end, the stomach narrows to a bulge called the pyloric valve.
Run your finger over the valve, it feels like a knot. When this donut shaped muscle contracts,
food is prevented from leaving the stomach.
19. Lying just above the curved end of the stomach is the thin ribbon like pancreas, which
secretes digestive enzymes into the small intestine.
20. The small intestine is the narrow tube leading away from the stomach. Digestion is
completed in the small intestine, as is most nutrient absorption. The small intestine loops in
tight coils down to the large intestine, a short, wide tube. The large intestine leads to the
cloaca, a large sac which passes waste out of the body.
21. Draw a diagram of the internal anatomy of the frog. Label the following:
whether your frog is a male/female, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, stomach, pyloric valve, small
intestine, large intestine, esophagus, cloaca, heart, spleen, lungs. To receive full points, you MUST
show how the organs connect to each other in the body.
22. Circulatory System: The reddish brown triangular organ in the middle of the upper body is
the heart. It has 3 chambers. The two upper chambers are the atria, which collects blood from
the veins. Blood flows from the atria into the lower chamber, the ventricle. The muscular
ventricle pumps blood throughout the body through the arteries.
23. Locate the small, pea shaped organ in the connective tissue near the small intestine. This is
the spleen, which manufactures white blood cells and removes dead red cells from the blood.
24. Respiratory System: The lungs are two spongy, elongated bags located on both sides of the
heart. Frog lungs work much like balloons. The frog take in air in its mouth and enlarges the
mouth cavity by extending the skin on the lower jaw. Then, it closes the mouth and the nares,
pushing the air through the glottis into the lungs.
Additional Questions:
25. List 2 organs that produce substances that aid in digestion.
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26. Why do you think the hind limbs are more muscular than the fore limbs?
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