Aaron Lobo (22) simply loves frogs, but his girlfriend isn't quite sure she likes the slimy little creatures.

"It's just a childhood fascination," says Lobo, who is doing his Masters at the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun. Based in Goa now, he grew up in Juhu, Mumbai, where he routinely kept pets in his childhood years - whether it was fish, a toad or a turtle.

"Now, I'm basically focussing on sea-snakes, and all 'herps' (short-form for life-forms included in 'herpetology', or the study of reptiles). He's planning a dissertation on the subject shortly.

Midweek, Lobo led a 'Wild Goa' nature trail, taking along the enthusiasm of over a dozen odd interested wildlife lovers to check out frogs in Goa's Porvorim area, a one time sleepy village and now suburb of state-capital Panaji.

They choose the 8 pm to 9.30 pm slot on a new-moon night, and were headed for Pilerne lake, another swampy area near Porvorim.

"There's not yet a checklist of frog diversity available in Goa," Lobo says.

But the Western Ghats (the hilly tract along the west coast of the country) is so damn rich that there must be a lot of endemic species," he told IANS.

"There's always a chance of finding something new," says he.

Goa and frogs have had a close relationship of sorts in this once largely-rural but fast-urbanising small state.

Each monsoons, after the rainy season breaks out here sometime in June, field areas get carpeted with the croaking of frogs which arise as if from nowhere, soon after the first rains.

But most here have traditionally treasured the amphibians as a delicacy - for the frog-legs. Each year, the Goa government issues a warning against killing frogs for the table.

Cautioned one recent media notification: "Government of India has banned the catching, killing and export of frogs. As frogs play a vital role in the food chain of an eco-system, they greatly contribute to the ecological balance of nature. Catching, killing and exporting frogs for meat contravenes the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972".

Lobo believes that awareness about frog-related issues is still low in Goa.

"Perhaps there's nobody (else) who specialises in frogs. Generally, the smaller taxa is not thought of (as something worth studying). Snakes and other bigger life-forms, perhaps excite the enthusiasm and are also feared due to the venom they carry," says Lobo.

On the situation of killing frogs for frog-legs and meat, Lobo believes that the situation in Goa is not "as bad" as it once was. "If captive breeding or management is done, it might not be such a bad idea of harvesting it," says he.

"Big bull-frogs come out only in the first few days of the rains. What is bad is if they're caught before they complete breeding," says he.

But he points out that wider problems like global warming create difficulties of their own. "Sometimes, the pre-monsoons come so early these days, that after the frog eggs are laid, the whole area dries up (due to lack of subsequent rain, affecting the frogs' breeding)," says he.

As he finished explaining, the small team seemed impatient.

Their search would take them through rain-soaked paddy-fields. Participants were forewarned: "Carry torches, rain-wear, etc. You might have to walk bare-feet or with gum-boots."

Gayatri and Salil Konkar were eagerly looking forward to the trip, while Clinton Vaz of Margao says, "I'm actually more interested in fish, but this is interesting too."

Harvey D'Souza and Neil Alvares, who organised the expedition, are all praise for Lobo: "Ever heard of birdsong? Aaron Lobo can identify frog species by their calls!"

Lobo is one of the young wildlife enthusiasts who has emerged to take an interest in recent years, which includes youngsters from the Green Cross based in the North Goa town of Mapusa led by artist Nirmal Kulkarni and Sunil, snake-catchers like Rahul Alvares, and others.

Lobo, who lives in Paitona, when not busy with his studies at Dehradun. He can be contacted on email aaronlobo79@yahoo.co.uk