There are 19 species of amphibians in Hiroshima Prefecture. They are 6 species of salamanders and 13 frogs.

Hynobiid salamanders are very secretive, so they are hardly known to people. They inhabit forests and damp ground around breeding sites and are found only during their breeding season. The Japanese giant salamander, Andrias japonicus is known to people as a Japanese special tresure. This species inhabits a cool and clear stream, and spend their entire lives underwater. Though, they sometime go out from the water when they climb over a small dam in their breeding season or a river rises. Now, their habitats are gotten worse by river improvement.

In the country side, all the kids play catching frogs or tadpoles. They are familier for kids, sing the frog's song "the chorus of frogs" at elementary school. Most frogs inhabit in the rice fields. The cost of Hiroshima, Rana japonica and R. ornativentris start of their breeding in January. Rhacophorus schlegelii calls in early spring. After water came into the rice fields, Rana nigromaculata, Hyla japonica, R. rugosa and R. limnochalis breed one after another. H. japonica and R. limnochalis call throughout the summer.

Rana catesbeiana was introduced from U.S. for food. This species inhabits pond and river, It gives an ecosystem a serious influence in the same way as a largemouth bass. Rana porosa brevipoda is on the verge of extinction in Hiroshima. The cause of the extinction is dryness by the improvement of rice fields.

URODELA Cryptobranchidae Andrias japonicus Hynobiidae Hynobius nebulosus Hynobius naevius Hynobius kimurae Onychodactylus japonicus Salamandridae Cynops pyrrhogaster ANURA Bufonidae Bufo japonicus japonicus Hylidae Hyla japonica Ranidae Rana japonica Rana tagoi Rana ornativentris Rana nigromaculata Rana porosa brevipoda Rana rugosa Rana catesbeiana Rana limnocharis Rhacophoridae Rhacophorus arboreus Rhacophorus schlegelii Buergeria buergeri