Question

During hibernation, frog respires through:
a. Buccopharyngeal cavity
b. Skin/ integument
c. Skin and lungs
d. Skin, lungs and Buccopharyngeal cavity

Answer 1

Hibernation is a process in which the animals conserve their energy to survive in adverse conditions. It is characterized by physiological changes such as drop in body temperature, slow metabolism and heart rate etc. to conserve the energy so that energy can be used during hibernation. The hibernation allows the animals like bears, chipmunks, bats etc. to use their stored energy more slowly.

Complete answer:
The frog is a member of the phylum Amphibia and orders Anura. It can live in water as well as on land. It can respire through lungs as well as through skin. On land, frogs respire through lungs more like humans. And in water, it respires through skin as its skin has moist surface and is permeable to water and contains a large network of blood vessels. The respiratory gases readily diffuse through the skin.

During hibernation, frogs inhabit water bodies at depth. Since these are poikilotherms these require a constant heat supply to maintain their body temperature. Thus, these respire through the skin by obtaining gases through diffusion. Therefore, they respire through cutaneous respiration.

Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

Additional information:
The cutaneous respiration occurs in various types of marine and freshwater fishes. Fish respire through the gills but cutaneous respiration also accounts for about 5-40% of the total respiration. Whereas in case of amphibians, cutaneous respiration is the major site of respiration in which the lungs are totally absent, for example salamanders. Some amphibians have excessive folds on their skin to increase the surface area for respiration. In the case of reptiles, cutaneous respiration occurs in the regions with small scales or no scales. Such as in case of turtles, they respire through skin from the cloacal region when present under water.

Note: Cutaneous respiration can occur in a variety of organisms such as insects, amphibians, fish, sea snakes, turtles and in a few mammals also. It is basically involved in gaseous exchange or sometimes ventilation also.