Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and colleagues say that nearly 6,000 other amphibian species are threatened with extinction from the parasitic fungus known as amphibian chytrid.

The pathogen causes respiratory and neurological damage that eventually results in death.

Writing in the journal Frontiers in Ecology, lead author Brian Gratwicke and his team point to the transportation of frog legs from far-flung sources around the world to France, Belgium and the United States.

Seventy-five percent of the delicacy is consumed in those three countries.

The researchers found that from 1996 through 2006, 100,000 tons of frog legs were imported from both wild and farmed sources.

While they found no record of a frog species going extinct that was collected for food, poorly regulated amphibian trade is probably a greater risk to amphibian biodiversity than over-harvesting.

Photo: Mehgan Murphy - Smithsonian's National Zoo