Ural zoologists caught six-toed and transparent amphibians in a five-kilometer buffer zone of pollution around the city.
The mutation of amphibians began in the forests around the city of Krasnouralsk, where hundreds of tons of chemicals and orphaned explosives were discovered in an abandoned chemical plant, which were freely available.
Scientists from the Ural Federal University, within the framework of the monitoring, carried out another catch of grass frogs near the city of Krasnouralsk.
- We worked 5 km from Krasnouralsk, in the buffer zone, which falls into the zone of technogenic emissions. We have not seen such unique specimens there before. Such an anomaly may be associated with genetics, - says Vladimir Vershinin, head of the Department of Zoology at the Institute of Natural Sciences of the Ural Federal District.
Scientists have caught 60 amphibians, two of which were unique. An ordinary frog has four toes on its front legs, and five on its hind legs. In this case, the amphibian has five fingers on its front legs, and six on the hind legs. Moreover, her fingers also grew on her forearms.
The second rare specimen caught partially lacks pigmentation. In amphibians, the iris of the eyes and abdomen are degenerated: all internal organs are visible through the transparent wall of the abdomen, you can see how the heart works.
“The individual development of frogs takes place in an open environment and is subject to the influence of all external factors,” continues Vladimir Vershinin. - The chemistry of the environment, illumination, even the usual mineralization of water and substances emitted into the atmosphere - all can affect development.
According to the scientist, in any population there is a certain percentage of anomalies, but if this begins to occur en masse, this is already a reason to think. For this, constant monitoring is carried out. Scientists regularly collect rare specimens of developmental deviations. In the near future a cryostorage will be created, where mutants can be stored forever at a temperature of -200 degrees.
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The current caught specimens will be investigated, while no one dares to claim that the mutation was influenced by the situation at an abandoned chemical plant, but they do not exclude this possibility. In addition to explosives, there are 12 oleum tanks, 10 melange tanks and 3 toluene tanks in an ownerless state. Liquid chemicals spilled onto the ground and created orange pools where freshwater was likely to enter.
Also, the appearance of a huge number of legs in frogs can be caused by parasites. Being in a reservoir, cercariae invade tadpole larvae in those places where limbs are then formed.