Lithobates palustris

Upper surface is tan with two parallel rows of more or less rectangular dark spots along the middle of the back. The base of the hind legs and groin are yellow or orange, though this color is faint or absent in juveniles. A light stripe runs along the upper jaw. A glandualr ridge extends along each side of the back. The hind toes are extensively webbed. Maximum size is around 3.5 inches (8.7 cm) snout-vent length. Breeding males have forelimbs that are more massive than those of females and juveniles, and the base of the thumb is large in breeding males than in adult females. Breeding call is a low snore lasting 1-2 seconds. Larvae are not particularly distinctive; the upper side is green with small black and yellow spots; tail fins are low, with heavy dark mottling, and the eyes are not at the margins of the head when viewed from above. Maximum total length of larvae is about 3 inches (7.5 cm). Eggs are laid in firm spherical masses containing up to a few thousand eggs.

Pickerel frogs occur in various freshwater aquatic and wetland habitats in wooded regions, ranging from the vicinity of cool clear streams and ponds in the north to warm, turbid swamps in parts of the south. In summer, they commonly range into fields and woods away from ponds or streams. In winter, they may be hidden at the bottom of a water body or secluded in wet caves.Breeding sites include standing water of woodland ponds, bog ponds, impoundments, stream pools, sloughs, and flooded ditches, often but not always in sites with few or no fishes (e.g., Holomuzki 1995). Males call while floating or submerged. Females attach egg masses to submerged vegetation.

Pickerel frogs have a distinctive odor and bright colors that are thought to advertise their distasteful skin secretions, and some predators such as shrews, certain fishes, and common garter snakes may reject them as food. Larvae are palatable to some fishes (green sunfish), less palatable to others (longear sunfish) (Holomuzki 1995).

Breeding occurs in winter in the far south, in spring (mostly April-May) in the north. Larvae hatch in several days or up to three weeks after laying, metamorphose usually within 2-3 months, in summer (often July-August in the north).