[SymeAaro (OP)]

Basically, I know this may seem amteur, but how can edible frogs reproduce? Aren't they hybrids? I read that hybrids can't reproduce....any comments I would be very greatful :-)

[evan_au]

There are a number of species of frogs that are eaten by humans (and most frog species will be consumed by some predators - except perhaps the "poison arrow" frogs).

Like all animal species that have not (yet) become extinct, they do reproduce!

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog_legs

[SymeAaro (OP)]

Sorry..l confusion alert... edible frogs is the name of a hybrid species, not the frogs that we eat... sorry

[chiralSPO]

I don't know specifically about frogs (or edible frogs, other than they are good eatin') but there are many types of hybrids out there, and some are able to reproduce, while others cannot.

A large percentage of fruits and vegetables you eat are hybrids. For instance, essentially all citrus fruits are hybrids (the orange is a cross between a mandarin and a pumelo, and the lemon is cross between citron and bitter orange).

But let's focus on animals, because they are somewhat different from plants genetically. Common hybrids like horse and donkey form mules (the term is specific for a horse donkey hybrid, but also is generic for hybrids that cannot reproduce). If I recall correctly, the parantage matters when considering lions and tigers (Ligers are not able to breed by Tions are, I think...) Dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals are all mutually compatible, and produce fertile offspring, and I have heard the whole lot of them referred to as Canis soupus (Sorry, foxes are too distant).

[Kryptid]

Wikipedia has the answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_frog#Hybridogenesis

To summarize what it says, an edible frog only produces gametes with the genetic material that it inherits from its marsh frog parent. In essence, it is reproducing as if it was its own marsh frog parent. This means that it can produce marsh frogs as offspring by breeding with a marsh frog or it can produce more edible frogs by breeding with a pool frog. Two edible frogs breeding results in marsh frog offspring.

In other hybrids, they attempt genetic recombination between the genomes they inherited from their parents (which doesn't work very well when the parents are of different species). This results in sterile to semi-sterile individuals. In edible frogs, no recombination occurs so this problem doesn't happen.

[SymeAaro (OP)]

Thank you! Very helpful