The peculiar tale of Xenopus laevis in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture

There are a few pathways for invasive populations of African clawed frogs, Xenopus laevis. The first, and oldest, has been the accidental (or deliberate) release of animals associated with laboratories using animals for pregnancy testing or as lab models. More recently, the number of invasions due to released pets has been on the rise, and we have seen examples of this in the USA, Belgium and China. Most of the invasions in Japan also appear to be related to pets, but not the population in Hamamatsu City.

In addition to being the laboratory model amphibian, the tadpoles of Xenopus are also used in a method known as FETAX (Frog Embryo Teratogenesis Assay – Xenopus) where they are used to measure toxicity of the water. I presume that it was this reason that led the City of Hamamatsu to release Xenopus tadpoles into one of their polluted Lake Sanaru in 1982 (see Arao & Kitano 2006). This means that the population found by Arao & Kitano in 2005 in an aquaculture area raising eels was over 20 years old at that time, but is now over 40 years old.

I was reliably informed that the animals were still there 5 years ago, and so I teamed up with Dr. Hisanori Okamiya from the Museum of Natural and Environmental History in Shizuoka. After spending a frutless morning searching in Makinohara (which apparently also had a population 5 years ago), Hisanori and I started looking around the eel farms.

A farmer at the first farm that we asked at pointed to a dead floating frog floating in a newly sterilised eel tank and asked us if this was the type of frog we were looking for. I fished it out with a very long net, and could immediately see that it was indeed a (very) dead Xenopus laevis. 

The farmer confirmed that he gets these frogs in his eel tanks all the time, but that the population appeared to be getting smaller over the last 5-10 years. We placed out traps in a large outdoor pond, the presumed source of frogs, and came back the next day very disappointed to find that there were no animals at all inside. 

I suggested that we keep on asking at eel farms and see whether anyone else was finding animals, or perhaps could point to their source. As we headed down the row of farms along the road next to the bullet train track, sightings appeared to be getting less and less. We decided to take a break and have some lunch. It had been pouring with rain all night and all morning, and Hinasori and I had been getting very wet despite waterproofs. It seemed fitting that we have eel for lunch, and so I splashed out. 

After lunch, we headed back the way we came. We stopped in the neighbouring aquaculture farm (not an eel farm, but a farm for koi carp). We couldn't find anyone around. We searched around all of the buildings, but couldn't find anyone. As we were walking through a big puddle at the side of an eel pond, Hisanori saw a frog swimming in the water. Happily, I filmed what happened next, so you'd best watch the video below:

We managed to find the owners of the farm who allowed us to fish around in one of their empty fish ponds, where we found lots of tadpoles and lots more metamorphs, but no adults. 

So it seems that 42 years after releasing tadpoles into Lake Sanaru, African clawed frogs are still alive and well in Hamamatsu City.

Further Reading:

Arao, K. and Kitano, T., 2006. Xenopus laevis from Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. 爬虫両棲類学会報, 2006(1), pp.17-19. 

A new invasion of Xenopus laevis in Chiba City

Before my visit to Japan I was looking for information about current invasions in the country when I came across a citizen conservation group in Chiba City, who had recorded Xenopus laevis  in a river flowing through a conservation area in their city. I made arrangements to visit the site with Dr. Takaki Kurita from the Chiba Prefecture Natural History Museum, and was greeted by a band of entthusiastic conservationists who were all happy to jump into the river with us to capture some Xenopus.

It wasn't long before the first shout went up, and then another and another. In the 34 C heat, we were pulling lots of animals out of the river, including an array of native and invasive fish and American crayfish. 

It was great to work with such enthusiastic conservationists in Chiba Prefecture. 

Xenopus from the Tanabe peninsula

The invasive population of Xenopus on the Tanabe peninsula has been one that I have wanted to visit for many years. I was alterted to its presence through a paper by Kento Takata from the Wakayama Prefecture Natural History Museum (Takata et al. 2023).

I was really pleased to take this opportunity to visit the Tanabe Peninsula and meet up with Kento and Hiroshi Doei who has been working for 16 years to eliminate Xenopus laevis from the Tanabe Peninsula. Unfortunately for me, Doei has done such a good job that despite setting over 100 traps the night before I arrived, we did not capture a single individual. In fact, they had not seen any individuals in 2024, and only a handful in 2023, with the last tadpoles seen in 2022. 

If this invasive species really has been eliminated from the Tanabe peninsula, this would be a remarkable feat. I take my hat off to Hiroshi Doei who had come up with some truely inventive  ways to set traps and capture animals in more than 30 ponds on the peninsula. It was a great visit, even if I was not able to sample any Xenopus!

One of the key innovations that Hiroshi Doei made was to place traps on a pulley across the pond. This enabled him to set 30 or more traps at a single site with minimal effort..

To get an idea of just how bad the Xenopus population was on the Tanabe peninsula, take a look at this video.

Sampling the invasive population of Xenopus on Awaji Island

Japan has several invasive populations of Xenopus laevis and among them is the one on Awaji Island, South of Kobe City. Prof Takeshi Igawa kindly accompanied me to the site, making the trip possible. We were joined there by the amazing Nobuyuki Higashiguchi who has been catching Xenopus from this population for over 6 years. 

The island has a lot of rice paddys and small resevoirs that are needed to flood them. These present a myriad of habitats for Xenopus as they are all interconnected. 

We spent several days trapping in various different ponds and amassed a large number of animals. We were also treated to the mastery of a throw net as Nobuyi showed us how to catch tadpoles from one of the reservoirs. 

Collecting Xenopus from WuHu, Anhui Province

My friend and collaboratory Prof. Supen Wang had mentioned to me that he had captured Xenopus leavis  near his laboratory in WuHu, Anhui Province, China. So, In mid-June Qen Qen and I flew up to WuHu to see what we could collect. 

It was great to meet up with Profs. Wang and Zhao again. I had been capturing Xenopus with Prof Wang in 2019 in Kunming, but I hadn't seen Prof Zhao since Beijing in 2016. Qen Qen and I were accompanied by their students, Zhirong He and Yuting Wang, to the field sites where we set some bucket traps.

Walking out with our bucket traps

Setting traps at the site of an established population of Xenopus laevis  outside WuHu.

We were successful in capturing some Xenopus laevis (albino) alongside Ambystoma mexicanum (axolotl) in the same trap! Both species are widely available in the pet trade in China.

Many of the animals we captured were very small metamorphs, making dissection challenging!