The magic of the natural world is that many new species are waiting to be discovered and studied. Recently, scientists have discovered a magical animal that can even be invisible! These magical little creatures can not only be invisible but also control light. Unlike octopuses, which use their pigments, these little guys can become completely invisible. Let's take a look.
Glass octopus
The glass octopus (scientific name: Vitreledonella richardi) got its name because of its almost complete transparency. This gelatinous octopus can grow up to 45 centimeters long — if you count the tentacles. They are distributed in tropical and subtropical waters and move at depths between 300 and 1000 meters. In addition to the digestive system, optic nerve and eyes. Glass octopuses aren't the only transparent animals that can camouflage their eyes. Many transparent mollusks camouflage their eyes with mirror structures, because mirrors reflect more seawater in open oceans, making the eyes invisible.
Glass squid
The small-headed squid is also known as the small-headed squid. There are also many transparent members of the squid, mainly the Cranchiidae (also known as the "glass squid"), about 60 species, all of which can be seen at a glance. These squid live in all open oceans of the world at depths between 200 and 1000 meters. Although the bodies are completely transparent, their large eyes are not transparent, and predators swimming below can easily spot the shadows cast by the eyes. However, the glass squid has a clever way of camouflaging. They can use the light emitters under the eyes to create a "counter-illumination" effect.
Bottle sea squirt
Bottles of sea squirts are almost completely transparent barrel-shaped creatures whose bodies are gelatinous, and by inhaling and discharging seawater, they are able to swim and feed at the same time. The bottle sea squirts depend on filter-feeding phytoplankton in seawater. Although they look a bit like jellyfish, they are actually more complex and more closely related to fish and vertebrates. They also have hearts and gills and can reproduce sexually.
Broad-muscle new gill bottle
Sometimes, the body is not transparent enough, and the organism needs other ways to keep itself invisible. Endpod suborder species have evolved another effective method. This tiny crustacean has a transparent body and resembles a shrimp. However, even if it is a piece of transparent glass, you can find its presence based on the light reflected above. This is a problem that cannot be ignored in the ocean, as many predators use bioluminescence to search for prey.
"Ocean sapphire" leaf water flea
The most incredible thing about leaf flea is that one second they were still shiny and shiny, and the next second they suddenly disappeared. Sapphirina is an ant-like creature, also known as the "sapphire of the sea" sapphirina is a type of ant-like creature that lives in warm tropical and subtropical waters. They belong to a group of crustaceans known as copepods. Different leaf flea species emit strange fluorescence, ranging from bright blue to bright red to gold.
Transfiguration butterfly
Most transparent animals live in the ocean, and there's a reason for that. To make your body transparent, you have to be made up of substances that neither absorb nor reflect light. This is a difficult task for plants and animals on land, because the refractive index between living tissue and air is very different. The refractive index describes the rate at which light travels through an object. Light travels fastest in a vacuum, and the greater the density of an object, the longer the light penetrates it and the greater its refractive index.
Transparent snail
Another example of a transparent land animal is the transparent cave snail (scientific name: Zospeum tholussum), found in the deepest cave in Croatia. Scientists at the University of Frankfurt in Germany have found the snail at a depth of about 980 meters in the Lukina Jama-Trojama cave, living in a rocky and sandy environment through which a small stream runs.
This snail belongs to a class of tiny land snails that live only in dark underground caves. Researchers believe that such snails cannot move on their own, and can only use running water to go elsewhere. Although the shell is quite transparent, these snails are actually quite clearly visible, which once again shows that land animals are difficult to be completely invisible like marine animals.