Valkea River Frog

This article was written for Summer Camp 2025. Therefore it is unpolished and lacking formatting and information. Feel free to comment with any questions or requests for clarification.

  The Valkea river frog, also known as the milknap frog, is native to Zenra's vast rainforest. Whilst the majority of the species lives along the often flooded banks of the Valkea river, others live in damp pockets of the forest further away from the river, their ancestors carried there long ago by particularly enthusiastic floods.   Their breeding cycle is linked to the river and the floods. Every year, there are a few short months when the rains stop and the river retreats behind its banks; when the rains come again, the breeding season begins. Female river frogs are able to lay up to four thousand eggs over the course of a few months. Those that live further from the river breed less often, their cycles dictated by the size of the pools they call home.   For the first months of the rainy season, it is not uncommon to see frothy masses of frogspawn clinging to the submerged trunks of trees. The Imthic merfolk often harvest the eggs for food purposes, though they never take more than half of the spawn from each cluster.   After a few weeks, the eggs hatch into jewel-toned, deep blue tadpoles. The tadpoles feast on the algae that is able to grow in the comparatively still water of the flooded forest, as well as decaying leaf litter. Many of them are eaten by fish and birds, despite their deep colour providing natural camouflage. After about a month, the tadpoles begin to grow legs, starting their metamorphosis into adults. Their hind legs grow first, followed by their forelegs, and finally their tail shrinks itself into nonexistence.   Adult river frogs are a dull green in colour, losing the vibrancy of their natal forms. They are able to climb out of the water to hunt insects on the trunks of trees, or on the forest floor during the drier season. They secret a thick milky substance to deter predators; it tastes foul, and other animals tend not to try to eat them more than once. The Imthic merfolk have found that this substance makes a strong topical anaesthetic, and have developed a method of harvesting it that does not antagonise the frogs too much.