Tadpoles are highly vulnerable to being eaten by fish

The larvae that emerge from the eggs, known as tadpoles (or occasionally polliwogs), typically have oval bodies and long, vertically flattened tails. As a general rule, free-living larvae are fully aquatic, but at least one species (Nannophrys ceylonensis) has semiterrestrial tadpoles which live among wet rocks.[115][116] Tadpoles lack eyelids and have cartilaginous skeletons, lateral line systems, gills for respiration (external gills at first, internal gills later), and vertically flattened tails they use for swimming.[90]

From early in its development, a gill pouch covers the tadpole's gills and front legs. The lungs soon start to develop and are used as an accessory breathing organ. Some species go through metamorphosis while still inside the egg and hatch directly into small frogs. Tadpoles lack true teeth, but the jaws in most species have two elongated, parallel rows of small, keratinized structures called keradonts in their upper jaws. Their lower jaws usually have three rows of keradonts surrounded by a horny beak, but the number of rows can vary and the exact arrangements of mouth parts provides a means for species identification.[114] In the Pipidae, with the exception of Hymenochirus, the tadpoles have paired anterior barbels, which make them resemble small catfish.[89] Their tails are stiffened by a notochord, but does not contain any bony or cartilaginous elements except for a few vertebrae at the base which forms the urostyle during metamorphosis. This has been suggested as an adaptation to their lifestyles; because the transformation into frogs happens very fast, the tail is made of soft tissue only, as bone and cartilage take a much longer time to be broken down and absorbed. The tail fin and tip is fragile and will easily tear, which is seen as an adaptation to escape from predators which tries to grasp them by the tail.[117]

Tadpoles are typically herbivorous, feeding mostly on algae, including diatoms filtered from the water through the gills. Some species are carnivorous at the tadpole stage, eating insects, smaller tadpoles, and fish. The Cuban tree frog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) is one of a number of species in which the tadpoles can be cannibalistic. Tadpoles that develop legs early may be eaten by the others, so late developers may have better long-term survival prospects.[118]

Tadpoles are highly vulnerable to being eaten by fish, newts, predatory diving beetles, and birds, such as kingfishers. Some tadpoles, including those of the cane toad (Bufo marinus), are poisonous. The tadpole stage may be as short as a week in explosive breeders or it may last through one or more winters followed by metamorphosis in the spring