Fourteen-years ago today. Semester at Sea Spring 2011 Enrichment Voyage

Blue Jeans Poison-Dart Frog (Oophaga pumilio). As part of a field trip to the Arenal volcano we went for a hike in a Costa Rican rain forest. I noticed something bright red at the side of the trail that turned out to be a poison-dart frog. They have these bright colors to let the other critters in the rain forest know that they are poisonous and wouldn’t make a good meal. While in graduate school, one of the other students in the group was working on the synthesis of a poison-dart frog toxin. The frog is also known as a Strawberry Poison-Dart Frog.