ID tadpoles

[pollywog]

Here are some unidentified tadpoles I picked up this morning.
The biggest is 8cm (mouth to tip of tail) and is just starting to show the start of hind leg development. Would anybody care to have a guess on the species?

 

[alan]

Picked up?

 

[pollywog]

yes I picked them up from an importer, they could not give me any details about them or where they came in from. I've got a good idea of what they are but was just wondering if anybody could confirm it.

 

[joshua]

Looks like either bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) or green frog (Rana clamitans) tadpoles to me.

 

[pollywog]

R.catesbeiana was my guess too but its been such a long time since I last saw Bull Frog tadpoles in this country I was not sure.

 

[william]

are they meant to be illegal in this country or something?

 

[pollywog]

Bullfrogs are not allowed to be imported anymore but the odd few tadpoles still turn up in fish shipments, these were simply labelled up as unidentified tadpoles.