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Meet the pig frog, Lithobates grylio, also known as the southern bullfrog or lagoon frog. (It is also sometimes identified as Rana grylio, probably due to some minor quirk of scientific bickering about which I do not care.) This particular individual is about four inches long; these frogs can grow to more than six inches in length, making them the second largest frog in Florida, after the American bullfrog.

The name Lithobates comes from litho- (stone) and -bates (one that treads), and means “rock climber”. Gryllos is Greek for pig, hence grylio. It lives in the southeastern United States, including all of Florida.

These little aquatic frogs are relatives of the American bullfrog, also in the genus Lithobates, and look pretty similar, although their hind feet are notably fully webbed, with the webbing on the longest toe going almost all the way to the tip of the toe — most large frogs’ rear feet do not have this feature, the webbing stopping well before the tip on the longest toe. They are actually reasonably abundant in the wild, and are named for the call the male uses to attract females, which sounds like a pig’s grunt.

The individual above is probably a female. Genders in this species can be determined by looking at the tympanum, the circle behind the eye. In male frogs, the tympanum is noticeably larger than the eye; in females, the tympanum is the same size or smaller than the eye.

Pig frogs, along with bullfrogs, have been raised for food by farmers in China.

Find more about the pig frog here.