The Whistling Frog

By

Ins & Outs of Barbados

March 2, 2023

The Whistling Frog (Eleutherodactylus martinicensis) arrived here after 1850, probably as a stowaway. It is the only true frog in Barbados.

Adults are about an inch long. Their fingers and toes are separate, not webbed, and have adhesive disks at the ends. The little brown cuties live anywhere that’s protected and moist. They feed primarily on insects and spiders.  

They sing from dusk to dawn in the rainy season, when they breed. To do this, their whole trunk inflates, followed by the under-neck pouch.

Fun facts:

The whistling frog has no tadpole stage. Fully formed frogs emerge from the small white eggs. Mum lays 15 to 30 eggs in a clutch and guards them during the ten days it takes for them to hatch.