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Bufo marinus

Family: Bufonidae
Common name: Cane Toad

Description: This very large amphibian has a grey, olive, brown or red-brown body. Juveniles of this species also have darker patches and markings. The belly is whitish with a yellow tinge and brown flecks. The skin on the back is very warty and there are large parotoid glands behind the eyes. The belly is granular. The toes are fully webbed.

Size: 150 mm

Habitat: The Cane Toad is found in many habitats including forests, woodlands, grasslands, beach dunes, suburban gardens and other cleared areas. It is a very adaptable species that quickly out numbers other native animals when it colonises new areas.

Call: A "purring" sound. Call available in Windows Media or Quicktime audio. Recording Copyright © David Stewart.

Breeding: Males call from spring to autumn and breeding increases after rain.

Eggs: Are black and laid in long strings of jelly, which are often caught in vegetation. A female can lay between 8000 and 25 000 eggs at one time.

Tadpoles: Are small and black. They are known for their schooling behaviour as huge numbers of them move together, like a black carpet, in water bodies. Cane Toad tadpoles eat other tadpoles dead or alive.

Similar species: Cane Toads are fairly distinctive due to the size of their body and parotoid glands. Sometimes large Cyclorana species are confused with the toads but they lack the distinctive parotoid glands. Occasionally juvenile Cane Toads are confused with species of Uperoleia. However, the absence of colourful markings in the groin and on the thighs of the juvenile toads easily separates them.

Other characteristics: Cane Toads are poisonous at all stages of their life cycle - egg, tadpole and adult.

Conservation Information

Suspected threatening processes

• None stated

Population size: An estimate of the total number of adults present in the species entire range is >50000 individuals. All major factors affecting population size and distribution are known.

Population trend in Australia over the past 50 years: Population size known to be increasing.

Knowledge of population trend in Australia: Monitored locally.

Population concentration: Not known to concentrate or exist in discrete locations. (e.g. the number of sites in which individuals group together either seasonally, such as breeding sites, or they may occupy discrete habitat patches within the broader landscape, such as discrete water bodies or drainage units.)

Ongoing management activities in Australia: None directed primarily at the taxon.

Reproductive potential for recovery: The average number of eggs deposited per adult female per year is >1000 eggs/female/year. Minimum age at which females are known or suspected to first reproduce is 2-3 years.

Range size in Australia: The size of the geographic area over which the taxon is distributed: > 1,000,000 km².

Distribution trend: Area occupied is stable or has increased. (This is an estimate of change in the portion of the total range that is occupied or utilised; it may not equal the change in total range.)

Knowledge of distribution in Australia: Broad range limits or habitat associations are known, but local occurrence cannot be predicted accurately.

References

Anstis, M. 2002. Tadpoles of South-eastern Australia. Reed New Holland: Sydney.

Barker, J., G.C. Grigg and M.J. Tyler. 1995. A Field Guide to Australian Frogs. Surrey Beatty & Sons: Chipping Norton.

Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and amphibians of Australia. Reed Books: Sydney.

Robinson, M. 2002. A Field Guide to Frogs of Australia. Australian Museum/Reed New Holland: Sydney.

Swan, G. 2001. Green Guide to Frogs of Australia. New Holland: Sydney.