Phantasmal frogs have reproduced in captivity for the first time at a Portsmouth aquarium, which is an achievement for British batrachian-breeding boffinry. These are extremely toxic frogs used y jungle-dwelling blow gunners to poison their darts.

The less than I am Phantasmal poison frog, also known as Epipedobates tricolor, is inhabitant of the western Andean slopes of Bolívar province in Ecuador. They are a part of group of amphibians known “poison arrow frogs”.

E tricolor sweats a chemical called Epibatidine. It is of great interest to the scientists as this also serves as a painkiller, which is 200 times as strong as morphine. Epibatidine painkillers could also evade addiction and other serious side effects, according to Jenna MacFarlane of Portsmouth's Blue Reef Aquarium.

But these frogs have become scarce and are found in only seven places in Bolivia.

MacFarlane said, “These beautiful frogs are under increasing threat in the wild due to loss of habitat and pollution and we are delighted to have been able to breed them successfully here in Portsmouth”.

She enthused that their wild environment can’t be mimicked exactly, so as to make them able to thrive in captivity. It’s a matter of great achievement that they are breeding so successfully.