Mycologists say the fungus may belong to the genus Mycena. (Photo courtesy: Lohit YT)
In an unusual and previously unrecorded case, a live frog was found in India with a fungus growing out of its skin, surprising scientists.
The frog, classified as Rao's intermediate golden-backed frog (Hylarana intermedia), was seen among 40 other individuals of its species, perched on a branch with a white stem and grey cap protruding from its left side.
The discovery was made by Lohit IT, a river and wetland specialist with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in India, during an expedition with friends to search for reptiles and amphibians in the foothills of the Kudremukh range in India.
After the team shared images of the frog, mycologists suggested that the fungus might belong to the genus Mycena. Lohit and his colleague Chinmay S. Maliye documented their discovery in a new study published Jan. 28 in the journal Reptiles and Amphibians.
The group did not set out to catch the frog, and it is unclear whether the fungus was growing from inside its body or on the surface of its skin. Some mycologists speculate that the amphibian may have acquired the fungus after an injury or infection, leaving a pit for the fungus to attach to.
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(Image courtesy: Lohit YT)
(Image courtesy: Lohit YT)
(Image courtesy: Lohit YT)
“I believe that this is a purely superficial skin infection caused by Mycena that can persist for a long time, [just] like most fungal skin infections in humans,” Christoffer Bugge Harder, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Biology who was not involved in the study, told Forbes of the new discovery.
According to the study, the fungus did not appear to harm the frog and there were no other visible injuries.
This is not the first time that amphibians have encountered fungi. Previous
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