Nonetheless, this is an exciting new discovery for Padre Island National Seashore. And further genetic research is needed to discover why the population at Padre Island National Seashore has such a unique call. The City of South Padre Island is a resort community with numerous hotels, clubs, and souvenir shops. The national seashore is located on North Padre Island near the city of Corpus Christi, Texas. After a month of trapping, 66 individuals were captured and confirmed as the Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad.Īdditional research is now needed to understand why the distribution has shifted so significantly. Padre Island National Seashore is a national park that includes about 66 miles of undeveloped beaches and natural habitat. The Gulf beaches here in Texas are all pretty similar long flat stretches of sand with low scrub dunes so. This is where rangers began trapping for more specimens, documenting every step of the process. These elusive frogs breed on rainy summer nights where they congregate at temporary fishless water bodies. They feed on a variety of insects but primarily eat ants. Narrow-mouthed Toads are very secretive, very small, and live mostly underground. Experts were contacted to validate the identification of the frog because no historical records existed for the Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad from Mustang Island, North Padre Island, South Padre Island, Nueces County, or any of the counties to the south. The captured frog was identified as the Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad. Finally on August 6, 2015, after years of painstaking work to capture and document these frogs, Park Ranger Alicia Walker finally spotted and was able to collect one of the mystery frogs. Additional frog vocalizations were recorded after rainstorms, but observing the frogs in the wild was still proving tricky. Frogs rely on freshwater for reproduction rangers knew that the increase in surface water created a unique opportunity to study these amphibians. The average annual rainfall for Padre Island National Seashore is approximately 32 inches however in 2015 the park received over 53 inches. The summer months of 2015 were uncharacteristically rainy. This mystery has eluded scientists for over a decade, until recently. Walking the sandy beaches of Padre Island National Seashore on a cold winter morning can trick the casual observer into believing nearly all the marine species commonly found in the surf zone have moved offshore to warmer depths. As the frog continued to evade capture, multiple amphibian experts were consulted, however no one could make a definitive identification of the call. Typical size of pompano taken on wintertime surf trip. Many recordings were taken over the years of this particular frog in the park. Auditory calls, or vocalizations, are often recorded and used by scientists to identify species of hard to find amphibians. For many years, Rangers at Padre Island National Seashore have been puzzled by the calls of a particularly elusive frog.
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