Scientists reveal secrets of frog transparency

While lizards change colour based on their surroundings, some frog species have a unique ability to turn their appearance on and off. 

In South and Central America, some species of frogs go a step further in their camouflaging talent – They can turn on and off their nearly transparent appearance.

While this ability has been a mystery for a long time, some researchers have now revealed the secrets of frog transparency.

The transparent frogs are nocturnal in nature. They are creatures that sleep during the day and stay active at night.

During the day, they hang underneath tree leaves. As their bodies are greenish and delicate, they hardly cast any shadow, rendering them almost invisible to birds and predators.

But things are a different for northern glass frogs. They take on an opaque reddish-brown colour when they wake up and hop around in search of food and mate, according to an Associated Press report.

According to Junjie Yao, a Duke University biomedical engineer and study co-author, their ability to become transparent is meant for their safety. It basically means they can evade predators with their transparency when they are awake and moving. And when they are sleeping, they remain hidden or camouflaged due to their body colour.

The researchers found that that the frogs concentrate, or “hide,” nearly 90% of their red blood cells in their liver. This conclusion was deducted after the team used light and ultrasound imaging technology to understand the transparency of frogs.

Yao said the frogs are able to become transparent by shrinking and packing together most of their internal organs.

Juan Manuel Guayasamin, a frog biologist at the University San Francisco of Quito, said that the research “beautifully explains” how “glass frogs conceal blood in the liver to maintain transparency.”

However, exactly how they make their bodies transparent is still somewhat of a mystery for the scientists.

However, scientists also said that having little blood circulating oxygen for several hours can be deadly for most animals. And concentrating blood tightly can result in clotting that can turn fatal.

But the transparent frogs somehow survive.

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