Endangered
Goliath frog
Conraua goliath
Goliath frog is a frog in the family Conrauidae (order Anura) — Conraua goliath, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
In a sample of 15 individuals, weights ranged between 600 and 3,250 g (1.3 and 7.2 lb), and snout–vent lengths were between 17 and 32 cm (6.7 and 12.6 in). The heaviest verified specimen, caught in the Muni River system in 1960, weighed 3,305 g (7.3 lb) and had a snout–vent length of 34.0 cm (13.4 in). The longest verified specimen, caught in the same river system in 1966, weighed 3,100 g (6.8 lb) and had a snout–vent length of 35.6 cm (14.0 in).
In total length, among them outstretched legs, the largest specimens can slightly exceed 80 cm (31 in). Their eyes can be nearly 2.5 cm (1.0 in) in diameter.
Range and habitat
The goliath frog is mainly found near waterfalls in Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. Their habitat is divided into two main seasons: the dry season that occurs from November to April and the rainy season that occurs from May to October. This species is primarily located in a dense equatorial forest fringe that is somewhat parallel to the coast and surrounded by rivers.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Their prey are terrestrial, aquatic, and semi-aquatic, indicating that they hunt both on land and in water. Annelids and reptiles were present only in the diet of lower weight frogs, emphasizing a more diversified diet for younger goliath frogs.
The egg masses consist of several hundred to a few thousand eggs, approximately 3.5 mm (0.14 in) each, and often attached to aquatic vegetation. Goliath frogs have been observed to create three main nest types, all semi-circular in shape and located in or near a river.
In crisis
The primary threat to the goliath frog is hunting, as it is considered a food source in its native range. To a lesser extent, they are also threatened by habitat loss and degradation. Due to their classification as an endangered species, the Equatorial Guinean government has declared that no more than 300 goliath frogs may be exported per year for the pet trade, but few now seem to be exported from this country.
Chytrid fungus, collection, and wet-forest loss are the usual pressures on frogs with a high threat category.
Goliath frog is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Goliath frog, Wikidata item Q739887. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
