1
$\begingroup$

The Japanese Tree Frog (Dryophytes japonica) (EN / JP) has a poison on its skin that can even make you loose your eyesight, if you touch your eyes, after touching{NOTE}. I found quite a couple of site stating that you must be careful with the poison of the frog. But I could not find any site that states what exactly that poison is.

{NOTE} Stated by

  • Wikipedia JP:

    手で触る分には問題ないが、傷ついた手で触ったり、触った手で目や口を擦ったりすると、激しい痛みを感じ、目に入った場合は失明することもある。 (google translate:) There is no problem with touching it with your hands, but if you touch it with your injured hand or rub your eyes or mouth with your touched hand, you will feel severe pain, and if it gets into your eyes, you may lose your eyesight.

  • Japanese blog

    触った手で目や鼻、口などの粘膜に触れると、最悪の場合失明する恐れがあります。
    (google translate): In the worst case, you may lose your eyesight if you touch the mucous membranes of your eyes, nose, mouth, etc. with your hands.

  • And various other blogs, which don't necessarily add much value to this list

Question: What is the poison the Japanese tree frog uses on its skin? If possible, please add a reference.

Why do I want to know this?

I'd ultimately like to know how dangerous it is to keep the frog around:

  • Can I eat vegetables the frog touched?
  • Do I need to boil the vegetables before eating?
  • Can I wash the poison away with water?
  • Do I perhaps not need to worry, because the poison evaporates very quickly?
  • What happens, if the frog touches my clothes from the inside and I take on these clothes?

I can only start answering these questions if I know what exactly the poison of the frog is.

$\endgroup$
5
  • $\begingroup$ Have you tried asking a zoology professor at your university? (presumably you are in Japan if these are your concerns). $\endgroup$
    – DKNguyen
    May 22, 2022 at 4:09
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Welcome to Biology.SE. Please edit in sources for your claim about these amphibians having a toxin that can cause blindness. A cursory check found no corroboration for this claim. Please see the tour and consult the help center starting with How to Ask for details about how to use this site. $\endgroup$
    – tyersome
    May 22, 2022 at 5:11
  • $\begingroup$ @DKNguyen I'm not a student; so no prof here. $\endgroup$
    – DarkTrick
    May 24, 2022 at 1:23
  • $\begingroup$ @DarkTrick I'm not assuming you are. I'm literally saying to find and e-mail a professor out of the blue and ask. I guess I should have said "your local university" rather than "your university". $\endgroup$
    – DKNguyen
    May 24, 2022 at 1:28
  • $\begingroup$ @tyersome I added two sources. Sources on this are 1) generally in Japanese and 2) generally blog post-like sites. I'm aware that those are unreliable. If the frog has not the claimed poisonous effect, knowing that the information spread is a false claim, is also an important insight. $\endgroup$
    – DarkTrick
    May 31, 2022 at 7:21

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .