Popular in Science Labs - Xenopus laevis

The African clawed frog Xenopus laevis, is widely studied in laboratories around the world; it has been particularly valuable in the study of the development process. During development, the fertilized Xenopus egg transforms from a single cell to an embryo with 170,000 cells in just 32 hours. Within another 80 hours it grows to a swimming tadpole with about 1 million cells. Several days later it begins to grow hind legs, the stage of this relatively transparent tadpole.

Through careful experiments involving manipulating cells in the Xenopus embryo or the chemical environment of these cells, scientists have learned a great deal about the mechanisms that direct cells in a developng embryo to build the complex organs, tisues and body parts of the adult animals.

Xenopus laevisis a native of Africa, but it has been accidentally released into various North American aquatic environments, where it can threaten native amphibian populations because it is an agressive predator.