118. Skin is the lung

Most amphibians breathe with gills in water when they are larvae

and in air with lungs when they become adults.

But there are land-living, cave-dwelling and tree climbing species

which have neither gills nor lungs. They breathe using their moist skins!

Frogs of the genus Telmatobius live under water in the high Andes.

They can absorb oxygen from the cold water directly through their skins.

Some Telmatobius which live in the muddy depths of the deep lakes

have evolved loose baggy skins to increase and improve

their ability to breath in the oxygen-poor deep water.

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