Pacific Northwest
Reptiles & Amphibians
Click on a picture for a larger view 
Coastal Tailed Frog - Ascaphus truei
Stejneger, 1899
Related or Similar Northwest Frogs:
Rocky Mountain Tailed Frog
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| Adult, Pacific County, Washington | Adult, Pacific County, Washington | Adult, Pacific County, Washington |
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| Adult female, Multnomah County, Oregon | Adult, Pacific County, Washington | |
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| Adult, Benton County, Oregon © Marcus Rehrman |
Adults in amplexus, Multnomah Co., Oregon © 2000 Brad Moon Tailed frog amplexus is inguinal - the male clasps the female around her pelvis, unlike most of our frogs which use axial amplexus - the male grasps the female around her forelimbs. |
Pupil is vertical |
| The "Tail" or Male Copulatory Organ | ||
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| Adult male Coastal Tailed Frog showing his tail-like copulatory organ. This organ, an extension of the cloaca, is used to transfer sperm into the female's cloaca during amplexus. She then holds the fertilized eggs for 9 or 10 months when she swims under a large stone on the bottom of a fast-moving creek and attaches the eggs to the bottom of the stone. This internal fertilization strategy lets tailed frogs breed in fast-moving water without the eggs washing away, which would happen if they were laid and fertilized on the surface of the water. | ||
| Tadpoles | ||
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| Tadpole active in daylight, Multnomah County, Oregon | Tadpole, Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
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| Tadpole feeding at night (underwater) Del Norte County, California, showing the white spot on the tail tip. |
Metamorph which has not yet absorbed its tail, Del Norte County, California © Alan Barron |
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| Most tadpoles have mouths at the front of the head, but the mouth of a Coastal Tailed Frog tadpole is underneath the head, which is flattened. The mouth position and head shape, along with specialized folds that create suction, help a tadpole cling to a rock surface while keeping its body close to the rock. This allows it to scrape food off the surface of underwater rocks in fast-moving creeks without letting the swift current wash it downstream. |
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| Habitat | ||
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| Habitat, Pacific County, Washington | Habitat, Multnomah County, Oregon |
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| Habitat, Multnomah County, Oregon |
Habitat, Multnomah County, Oregon |
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| Short Videos | ||
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| Several views of a male Coastal Tailed Frog at a small forested creek in the Oregon Cascade Mountains. | A Coastal Tailed Frog tadpole forages on the rocks of a small pool in a small creek in the Oregon Cascade Mountains. You can see its unique sucker-like mouth working from the other side of a piece of glass. |
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Northwest Reptiles and Amphibians
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