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Oriental Fire-bellied Toad
Bombina orientalis (Oriental Fire-bellied Toad · チョウセンスズガエル)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A body length of 8 cm is slightly longer than the width of a smartphone (about 7 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 Through a project running since 2009, Korea's Ministry of Environment and the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute developed Korea's first ecotoxicity testing technology using Oriental Fire-bellied Toad embryos for environmental monitoring.
- 💡 The bright red belly patterned with black blotches is the most distinctive feature separating it from other frogs in Korea.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Oriental Fire-bellied Toad is a small frog with a bright red belly distributed across Korea, China, and Russia. It is listed as Least Concern (LC, 2020) on the IUCN Red List.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its back has a dark green, bluish-green, or brown ground color densely scattered with irregular black blotches and large and small tubercles. The belly skin is smooth and bright red with black mottling, making it easy to distinguish from other frogs.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Adults feed on terrestrial worms, mollusks, and insects, and breed from May to mid-August, laying 3–45 eggs at a time. Tadpoles begin metamorphosis after 10–14 weeks.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
In Korea, it is found mainly in high-altitude mountain streams nationwide, with Jeju Island marking its southern limit. The Ministry of Environment and the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute developed an ecotoxicity testing method using embryos of this species.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2020) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/54449/63850146
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 68NNM
- • iucnredlist.org — 63850146
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000001372 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000001372
- • wikidata.org — Q1061702
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Bombina orientalis.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Bombina orientalis
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • korea.kr — interviewView.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Jose Carlos Arenas-Monroy · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.