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Antipredative Function Of The Gelatinous Coating Of The Eggs Of The Frog, Rana Pipiens, Walter Stanley Jennings

Master's Theses

The eggs of Rana pipiens, the southern leopard frog, were offered in several forms to Lepomis macro­ chirus, the bluegill. The fish were offered random trial discrimination tests while in groups of one or five in 40 1 aquaria. L. macrochirus learned to make distinct discriminations and rejected fertilized and unfertilized egg masses, boiled egg masses, dried frog eggs and gelatin made with homogenated frog eggs. In contrast, Shrimp-el-etts, Shrimp-el-etts dyed black, gelatin made with peptone, and ovarian eggs were accept­ ed readily. The results suggest a protective function for the gelatinous coat: both physical and chemical . The chemical …