Have you ever seen creatures with transparent skin?
Maybe you can think of jellyfish and jellyfish.
So add a little more difficulty, have you ever seen creatures that not only have transparent skin, but also can see internal organs through the skin?
jellyfish
When going out to eat Cantonese food, everyone must have eaten a dish called crystal shrimp dumplings, as the name suggests, that is, the skin is crystal clear, just like crystal, through the skin, you can also faintly see the pink shrimp meat inside, not only the appearance is made like a crystal ball, the taste is soft and sweet. So if you put this transparent skin on food, it should look much easier than in nature, so in fact, do organisms with transparent skin really exist?
Crystal shrimp dumplings
The "alien creature" that is transparent is actually a new species
Don't tell me what kind of crystal man in a science fiction movie, how to look like made up! To put it practically, the big world, there are no wonders, just as the so-called three-legged toad is not easy to find, four-legged transparent toad is still available. That's right, glass frogs! And people have been on TV!
Transparent people
On March 23, 2022, it was reported that researchers found a glass frog that had never been seen before near the Ecuadorian Andes, and after analysis, judged that this so-called "new species" was endangered, and gave the newly discovered friend a name called "Mashpi".
Glass frog
Also on February 8, 2020, CCTV News reported that in Bolivia, a glass frog that had been separated from people for 18 years was found, and only one was found, and it was later protected. Coincidentally, on April 20, 2015, the glass frog, also as a "new species", appeared in Costa Rica. It is worth mentioning that the emergence of these three "new species" glass frogs is different from the previously discovered glass frog species. Do you dare to imagine that there are 156 species of glass frogs that are not often exposed to people's vision?
No matter how many types there are, they are not superior in quantity. After all, scarcity is expensive, and even in the glass frog's "hometown" of Venezuela, this translucent creature is rare, and this reappearance in Bolivia after 18 years of absence is a better indication that the ecological environment of the discovery site has been well improved.
The true face of the glass frog in Lushan is so beautiful
To put it simply, what does this legendary glass frog look like?
Glass frog
The glass frog is not as big as other frog friends, but it is very small, generally about two or three centimeters, which is about the size of a human thumb. And in the frogs, it can be said that the appearance is very high. A pair of big eyes with a god, a translucent body, emerald green skin, bones are very beautiful blue-purple, the lower body and sides are transparent, from the side of the stomach, you can clearly see its internal organs. What beating heart, peristaltic intestines, including blood vessels are at a glance, completely presented in front of you, the clarity is very high, is it a little crystal shrimp dumplings meaning.
Blue-purple bones
This little guy also likes to lie on the leaves, often blends in with the leaves, plus it is transparent in itself, almost difficult to be detected. To say how much it likes leaves, let's tell you this, basically this guy, eats on leaves, sleeps on leaves, even gives birth on leaves. Because tadpoles live in water, under normal circumstances, glass frogs will choose leaves close to the stream when laying eggs, so that when the female frog hatches the eggs and the tadpoles break out of the shell, they can fall directly into the water, and then return to the leaves after they grow into glass frogs.
Eggs of glass frogs
Glass frogs that can be invisible are actually for self-preservation
But you have to ask why it likes leaves so much, in fact, to put it bluntly, it is not because people are small and bully, so they can only use leaves as a cover with grievances, so that they can avoid many enemies. Because the glass frog itself is green and translucent, it disguises itself well on the leaves. Zoology expert Barnett has explained this phenomenon, saying that between the leaves and the glass frog, due to the special body structure of the glass frog, it can also produce a color gradient with the leaves, plus the glass frog is transparent on both sides, can be like a chameleon to integrate itself and the environment well, and there is no particularly obvious boundary with the leaves, and this phenomenon is also known as "edge diffusion".
Data simulation
Barnett's effect is not a conjecture of his, in order to verify the "edge diffusion" effect, he and his team have taken a lot of photos of animals in the wild, these animals live on green leaves, cut out and then stitched with a white background, through computer simulation of human visual effects, as well as the perspective of their natural enemies, to see if they can identify the location of these animals at a glance in the wild. The experiment selected different environments, including the adjustment of bright light, etc., and found that the brightness of the glass frog changed with the change of environment.
A tiny frog is actually an environmental barometer
In addition to being eye-catching because of its special appearance, every glass frog can always attract attention, and the reason is its unique "passive" skills, as long as it is there, it means that the nearby ecological environment has been greatly improved, and it can even be said that it is a very suitable environment for animal survival. Because as an amphibian, the skin has a strong penetration function, which makes them very sensitive to changes in the external environment, such as air quality, temperature, climate changes and so on. As long as the current environment is a little unsuitable for survival, you will not have the opportunity to see it. And the glass frog itself is more fragile than many animals, just like its name "glass", once the environment changes, life will come to an abrupt end, and it is very picky about the habitat. Therefore, the glass frog is often called the "barometer" in the natural environment, and it is also an indicator of the ecological environment. Therefore, every time researchers find them in the wild, it feels like they have found a surprise.
Finger-sized glass frog
Few meets, but has become endangered
Not only is the discovery of glass frogs now surprising, in fact, as early as the 50s of the twentieth century it has entered people's field of vision, between 1950 ~ 1970, the glass frogs that were discovered and known were found in south-central America, which is often called Latin America. In 1973, biologists John D. Lynch and William E. Duellman began studying glass frogs and found that they mainly inhabit the Andes, which coincided with the discovery of glass frogs in recent years.
Clearly visible internal organs
It is worth mentioning that after the discovery of two glass frogs in 2022, experts suggested that this glass frog be listed as an endangered species, which is also in line with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the main purpose is also to attract more people to protect the ecological environment and biodiversity. Because the living environment that glass frogs can adapt to is very fragile, and now a large number of human activities, including agricultural land, urban construction, mining and so on, are very serious ecological damage, which is very likely to damage the living habitat of glass frogs and lead to their extinction.
International Union for Conservation of Nature
The emergence of the glass frog this time is undoubtedly a good news for people, which proves that we have made progress in ecological protection. Of course, it has also attracted more people, attach importance to ecological environmental protection, join the activities of protecting endangered species and protecting the ecological balance of the earth, I believe that if each of us contributes to the earth, there will be more rare animals like glass frogs to appear in front of us again.