However, it was already well known to the local people and several earlier documented specimens and publications had been ignored by the authors in the 2003 paper that describes the genus and species.

[4] Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis closest living relatives are considered to be the Sooglossidae, only known in the Seychelles, an island chain in the Indian Ocean.

One of its common names, the purple pig-nosed frog, also makes reference to the elongated morphology of its snout, which is well adapted to the acquisition of fossorial termites.

The body of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis appears robust and bloated and is relatively rounded compared to other more dorsoventrally flattened frogs.

Their flattened body assists them to cling to submerged rocks and boulders which essentially helps them fight strong currents, allowing them to remain near stream banks where they typically reside.

Tadpoles of the species had been described in 1917 by Nelson Annandale and C. R. Narayan Rao as having oral suckers that allowed them to live in torrential streams.

[3][8] Suckers are also present in rheophilic fishes of genera such as Glyptothorax, Travancoria, Homaloptera, and Bhavania, adaptations that are the result of convergent evolution.

The females then carry the male frogs on their backs to the egg laying sites which are usually crevices along the fast-flowing streams.

[18] The major threat to these amphibians in the Western Ghats of India is caused by the alteration of natural habitats by an ever-increasing human population, resulting in large areas being converted for settlement and agricultural use.

The building of dams during monsoon season is affecting the loss of microhabitat that is needed for survival of the purple frog.