06/05/2022
Coqui frogs belong to a genus of frogs that do not have a tadpole stage and therefore do not require a body of water to reproduce. Instead, the female lays the eggs on damp moss or leaf litter, or inside a rolled or folded leaf, and the eggs are brooded by the male, who keeps them moist until they hatch.
At first, the eggs look white to off-white and opaque, about the size of large tapioca pearls. As they mature, the eggs enlarge, darken and become transparent, resembling papaya seeds, with the frog embryo visible inside. When the tiny froglets hatch in 14-17 days, they are about ¼ inch (5 mm) long.
In its native Puerto Rico, the female coqui frog usually lays a cluster or clutch of 34-75 eggs four to six times a year; however, under laboratory conditions in Hawai`i, mating pairs produce a clutch every 2½ weeks without loss of fertility – that’s 26 clutches a year, or more than 1,400 eggs per female per year! It takes about 8 months for froglets to mature. Adult coqui frogs may live as long as 4-6 years.
