Name ________________________________________ Date ________________Period _____

Lab: Frog Dissection

Introduction:
Frogs belong to the class Amphibia. Amphibians have adaptations for living in terrestrial as well as aquatic
environments. Frogs are among the most commonly studied organisms in biology. Although many differences
exist between humans and frogs, the basic body plans are similar. Humans and frogs both belong to the phylum
Chordata. By studying the anatomy of the frog, you will be better able to understand your own body.
In this investigation you will observe the external features of a preserved frog and identify parts of its external
anatomy. You will also dissect the preserved frog to observe its internal anatomy and make comparisons to
human anatomy.

Pre-Lab Questions:
Read the entire investigation. Then answer the following questions.
1. Define the following terms related to the positioning of the frog.

a. Dorsal: __________________________________________________________________________

b. Ventral: _________________________________________________________________________

c. Anterior: _________________________________________________________________________

d. Posterior: ________________________________________________________________________

2. Why is it important to check-off each step of this laboratory procedure before continuing to the next step?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

3. What will you examine in Part A of this investigation?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

4. Why is it important to make shallow cuts when cutting the skin around the frog’s hindlimb?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

5. After you expose the internal organs in Part B, what two structures might you have to remove in order to
examine the organs?
_______________________________________________________________________________________

6. Which organs of the digestive system will you identify in Part B?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

7. Without the presence of eggs, how will you know whether your frog is male or female?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Materials (per group):
Preserved frog, forceps, paper towels, plastic food bag, dissecting tray, dissecting pins, dissecting scissors,
dissecting probes, waterproof marker, eye dropper
Dissecting  
Pins   Tray  

Safety:
Put on disposable plastic gloves. Treat the preserved animal, preservations solution, and all the equipment that
touches the organism as potential hazards. Do not touch your eyes or your mouth with your hands. Be careful
when handling sharp instruments. Always cut away from your body and away from others. Return or dispose of
all materials according to the instructions of your teacher. Wash your hands with soap and warm water after
carrying out this investigation.

PART A: External Anatomy of the Frog

1. Obtain a preserved frog. Rinse the frog with water to remove excess preservative. CAUTION: The
preservative used on the frog can irritate your skin. Avoid touching your eyes while working with the frog.
Dry the frog with paper towels and place it in a dissecting tray.
2. Identify the dorsal and ventral surfaces and the anterior and posterior ends of the frog. Notice the color on
each surface of the frog.
3. Locate the forelegs and the hindlegs. Each foreleg, or arm, is divided into four regions: upper arm, forearm,
wrist, and hand. Each hindleg also has four regions: thigh, lower leg, ankle, and foot. Identify the parts of
the forelegs and hindlegs. Examine the hands and feet of the frog. If the hands have enlarged thumbs, the
frog is male. How many digits are on each hand and foot? Is your frog a male or female?
4. Locate the two large, protruding eyes. Lift the outer eyelid using a probe. Beneath the outer lid is an inner
lid called the nictitating membrane.
5. Posterior to each eye is a circular region of tightly stretched skin. This region is the tympanic membrane, or
eardrum. Locate the tympanic membranes on both sides of the head.
6. Anterior to the eyes, locate two openings called the external nares (singular, naris), or nostrils.
7. Hold the frog firmly in the dissecting tray. Using scissors, make a small cut at each of the hinged points of
the jaw. CAUTION: To avoid injury, cut in a direction away from your hands and body. Open the mouth as
much as possible. Under running water, rinse away any excess preservative.
8. The tongue is the most noticeable structure in the mouth. Observe where the tongue is attached and note the
two projections at the free end.
9. At the back of the mouth, locate the large horizontal opening, the gullet opening. In front of the gullet
opening, find a vertical slit, and the glottis.
10. Look for two openings on the backsides of the floor of the mouth. These are the openings to the vocal sacs.
They are present in male frogs but not in female frogs.
11. Examine the roof of the mouth. Near the front center of the roof of the mouth are two small bumps. These
bumps are the vomerine teeth. On either side of the vomerine teeth are the openings of the internal nares.
Behind the vomerine teeth, observe two large bulges. These bulges are the eye sockets. Run your finger
along the top jaw. The teeth you feel are the maxillary teeth. The openings of the Eustachian tubes are on
either side near the back of the mouth. Insert a probe into an opening of one Eustachian tube. Note where
the probe stops.

PART B: Internal Anatomy of the Frog

1. Place your preserved frog in a dissecting tray with the ventral surface up. With dissecting pins, securely pin
the frog’s feet and hands to the bottom of the dissecting tray. Angle the pins away from the body of the frog
so that they will not interfere with your dissection.

2. With forceps, lift the loose skin of the abdomen. Carefully insert the tip of a pair of scissors beneath the
skin. CAUTION: To avoid cutting yourself, cut in a direction away from your hands and body. Cut the
skin along line AB as show in Figure 2. Using forceps and scissors, continue cutting skin along lines CD
and EF.
3. With your fingers, carefully separate the skin from the underlying muscles. Open the flaps of skin as far
back as possible and pin them to the bottom of the dissecting tray. Angle the pins away from the body of the
frog so that they will not interfere with your dissection. Notice the blood vessels branching throughout the
inner lining of the skin. Observe the abdominal and pectoral muscles. Note the direction of the muscle
fibers.
4. Carefully lift the abdominal muscles with the forceps. Cut a second AB incision. Note: Keep the cut
through the muscles shallow so as not to damage underlying organs. As the incision is made in the
chest, or pectoral area, you will need to cut through bone. This bone is part of the pectoral girdle. Note: Use
extra force with the scissors when cutting through the bone. Be careful not to damage any of the
internal organs below the bone. Make cuts CD and EF through the abdominal muscle.
5. Remove the pins holding the skin in place. Stretch the abdominal opening as much as possible. At this time
the hands and feet of the frog may need to be repinned.
6. Study the positions of the exposed organs. Notice that most of the organs are held in place by thin,
transparent tissues called mesenteries.
7. If the frog is a mature female, the most obvious organs will be the ovaries. The ovaries are white sacs
swollen with tiny black-and-white eggs. Carefully lift the ovaries from the body cavity, cut the attachments
with scissors, and remove the ovaries from the frog. Note: Be careful not to rupture the ovaries with
scissors. If the ovaries are ruptured, the eggs inside can spill out.
8. The large reddish-brown organ in the upper part of the abdominal cavity is the liver. How many lobes does
the liver contain?
9. With your fingers or a probe, lift and separate the lobes of the liver upward. Behind the middle lobe, look
for a greenish, finger-shaped gland. This gland is the gallbladder. You may be able to locate the bile duct
leading from the liver to the gallbladder.
10. With scissors, carefully remove the liver and gallbladder from the body. The remaining organs of the
digestive system are easier to see with the liver removed.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
11. Locate the esophagus, which is a white tube leading from the mouth and connecting to the upper part of the
white, muscular stomach. Notice the shape of the stomach. Look for a constriction at the lowest part of the
stomach. This constriction is the pylorus. The pylorus leads into the long, coiled small intestine. Pull the
loops of small intestine away from the body. Notice the mesentery that holds the intestines in place. Inside
the first loop of the small intestine near the stomach, locate a thin, white organ called the pancreas. Also in
the intestinal mesentery, locate a brown bean-shaped organ called the spleen. The spleen is an organ of the
circulatory system.
12. The small intestine ends in a large bag-shaped organ, the large intestine. The last organ of the digestive
system is the cloaca, a saclike organ at the end of the large intestine. Undigested food leaves the frog’s body
through an opening called the anus.
13. With scissors, cut the esophagus near the stomach. Cut through the large intestine just above the cloaca.
With your fingers, carefully remove the digestive system from the body.
14. Stretch out the digestive system on the dissecting tray. With scissors, cut open the stomach along its outside
curve. Open the stomach and examine its structure and contents. Observe the inside of the stomach.
Describe the content’s of the frog’s stomach.
15. Dispose of the digestive system, liver, and ovaries according to your teacher’s instructions.

UROGENITAL SYSTEM
16. The reproductive system and urinary system of the frog are closely connected and can be studied as the
combine urogenital system. The two kidneys are reddish-brown organs located on the dorsal posterial wall
of the abdominal cavity. The kidneys lie on either side of the backbone. Note: The kidneys may be
covered with a thin membrane. If so, carefully tear open the membrane with the point of a dissecting
needle. The yellow, fingerlike lobes attached to the kidneys are fat bodies. A small, twisted tube called the
ureter leads from each kidney into the saclike urinary bladder. The bladder is connected to the cloaca.
17. Locate the reproductive organs of the frog. If your frog is a male, it possesses testes, tiny white or yellow
oval organs found on the ventral surface of the kidneys.
18. If your frog is a female, it possessed egg-filled ovaries that were removed in step 7. If your frog is an
immature female, the pale oval ovaries are located ventral to the kidneys. Leading from each ovary is a long
coiled tube called the oviduct. The oviduct extends along the side of the body cavity. The oviduct eventually
joins the cloaca.
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
19. Locate the two lungs. They are small, spongy brown sacs that lie to the right and left of the heart. Look for
the bronchial tubes that extend from the anterior part of the lungs and join with the trachea, or windpipe.
20. Insert a dropper into the glottis of the frog. Pump air into the lungs and observe what happens.
21. With scissors and forceps, carefully remove the lungs from the frog’s body. Dispose of the lungs according
to your teacher’s instructions.

CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
22. Locate the heart. The heart is encased in a membranous sac called the pericardium. With the tip of the
scissors, carefully cut open the pericardium.
23. Note the vessels attached to the heart. The large artery on the ventral surface of the heart is the coronary
artery. Note: If the frog has been injected with red and blue latex paint, the veins and arteries will be
obvious.
24. Carefully cut the blood vessels leading to and from the heart. Remove the heart from the frog. Place the
heart in the dissecting tray with the dorsal surface facing up. Identify the right and left atria and the
ventricle. Touch and compare the walls of the two atria and the ventricle.
25. Observe the dorsal surface of the heart. Locate the thin-walled triangular sac called the sinus venosus.
Locate the two veins leading from the top and the one vein leading from the bottom of the sinus venosus.
26. With the scalpel, cut the heart into anterior and posterior halves. Note the thickness of the walls and the
types of heart chambers. CAUTION: Be careful when using a scalpel. Always cut in a direction away
from your hands and body.

MUSCULAR SYSTEM
27. Remove the pins from the frog’s feet and hands.
28. Cut the skin completely around the upper thigh of one leg, as if cutting off the leg of a pair of pants. With
forceps, carefully pull the skin downward to the foot. Expose the thigh muscles, the knee, and the calf
muscles.
29. Move the lower leg up and down to stimulate the lift movement during a jump. Observe the various leg
muscles involved in the leg movement.
30. Follow your teacher’s instructions for storing the frog for further use or properly disposing of the frog and
its parts. Thoroughly wash, dry, and put away your dissecting tray and tools. Wash your hands with soap
and water.