Still got tadpoles

Legacy_user

Not saving, but of interest. We have three ponds, one of them needs to have the azoa? weed removed quite frequently, and often scooped up by hand. In this pond are frogs, but here it is, mid-August and we still have tadpoles in various stages of growth.

The question we ask ourselves is this, would they be original tadpoles from the spring that have failed to continue growing, or are they odd bits of spawn that have only just developed, or are the frogs still producing spawn.

Any suggestions?

jollyanna

Hi, I heard a radio wildlife prog. last year and they mentioned that at times of great abundance of spawn, there can be some natural halt/delay to the development of the spawn to allow for a fairer chance of survival. I may not have got this scientifically correct, but it certainly offers some explanation I hope. I think it was a radio 4 series, possibly with Terry nutkins.