SURINAM TOAD

(Pipa pipa), aquatic South American toad (family Pipidae) in which the eggs are incubated on the back of the female. The Surinam toad is about 20 cm (8 inches) long. It has a flat, squarish body, small eyes, and a flat head with loose flaps of skin on the snout and jaws. The digits end in small, star-shaped appendages that aid food finding. The Surinam toad mates in water. As each egg is released, it is fertilized and pressed by the male to the back of the female. In the next several hours, the skin grows around the eggs to enclose them in a cyst with a horny lid. After about 80 days' development, the young emerge as miniatures of the adult.