American bullfrog
Lithobates catesbeianus
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Lithobates catesbeianus
Common Names:
Habitat:
Description:
Origin and Worldwide Distribution:
Potential or Known Impacts:
How did it/could it get here?
Is it found in Northern Ireland?
You can help by reporting any sightings: @ the Centre for Environmental Data & Recording (CEDaR) - Or via the iRecord App
Methods for Prevention:
Current Legislative Position (Listed on 03 August 2016)
Lithobates catesbeianus
Common Names:
- American bullfrog
Habitat:
- Wide range of wetlands, particularly man-made ponds, canals, ditches and reservoirs. It will colonise any permanent still or slow-moving waterbody, like lakes, marshes, bogs and, rivers.
Description:
- The American bullfrog is a large green or brown North American frog, up to 20cm long and weighing up to 500g. Its name comes from its distinctive bellowing calls.
Origin and Worldwide Distribution:
- The American bullfrog is the largest of the North American frogs.
- Originally introduced into Europe for consumption and as a pet, it has since escaped into the wild, colonising a wide range of habitats, including ponds, swamps, reservoirs, marshes and irrigation channels. It is currently established in Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Great Britain, and it could easily invade other countries.
Potential or Known Impacts:
- Its size, breeding capacity, and voracious appetite enable it to out compete and displace other native amphibian species.
- It is also known to pass on lethal diseases to wildlife, such as the chytrid fungus, implicated in massive die-offs of amphibians worldwide.
- It is tolerant to a wide range of habitats and conditions, including temperate regions, and may thrive in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
- It may predate upon native fauna, leading to a localised reduction in species numbers; this species is unlikely to be preyed upon as tadpoles are unpalatable to most vertebrate predators.
How did it/could it get here?
- Through importation but the import of this species has already been banned through the EU Wildlife Trade Regulation, but its inclusion on the Union list of Invasive Alien Species will ensure further concerted action to contain its invasion and prevent its spread into other countries.
Is it found in Northern Ireland?
- Not present in Northern Ireland
You can help by reporting any sightings: @ the Centre for Environmental Data & Recording (CEDaR) - Or via the iRecord App
Methods for Prevention:
- The import of this species has already been banned through the EU Wildlife Trade Regulation, but its inclusion on the Union list of Invasive Alien Species will ensure further concerted action to contain its invasion and prevent its spread into other countries.
- Report any sightings.
Current Legislative Position (Listed on 03 August 2016)
- This species must not intentionally be brought into the Union; kept; bred; transported to, from or within the United Kingdom, unless for the transportation to facilities in the context of eradication; placed on the market; used or exchanged; permitted to reproduce, grown or cultivated; or released into the environment.