{"id":24394,"date":"2023-02-08T14:38:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T13:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=24394"},"modified":"2023-02-13T10:16:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T09:16:38","slug":"invisibility-croak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2023\/02\/08\/invisibility-croak\/","title":{"rendered":"Invisibility croak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sleeping glassfrogs perfect their transparency by hiding their blood in a mirror-coated liver <\/p>\n\n

\"\"\/
Fleischmann\u2019s glassfrog, Costa Rica.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

THE GLASSFROGS OF TROPICAL AMERICA have probably come closer than any animal to developing an invisibility cloak. And new research reveals the lengths to which these remarkable amphibians go to perfect the illusion. <\/p>\n\n

Camouflage is usually achieved by matching one\u2019s own colour patterns to those of one\u2019s surroundings. But glassfrogs do things very differently. They have managed to rid their bodies of virtually all pigment to make themselves almost entirely transparent. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThey have this suite of adaptations,\u201d says Carlos Taboada of Duke University, USA. \u201cThey have transparent skin, they have transparent muscle and they have light-reflecting crystals in their organs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

One of the few pigments glassfrogs are unable to dispense with is the red haemoglobin in their blood, which is essential for transporting oxygen around their bodies. But the latest research by Taboada and his colleagues, published in <\/span>Science, <\/em>shows how Fleischmann\u2019s glassfrogs have found a way around that problem, too \u2013 at least while they sleep, when they are most reliant on their camouflage.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The team found that sleeping frogs divert nearly 90 percent of their red blood cells to their liver, where they are hidden from view behind a layer of mirror-like crystals. This renders the frogs up to 61 percent more transparent than when they are awake, when they need their red blood cells to be circulating to fuel active muscles. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Its blood is visible when it\u2019s awake but is hidden when it\u2019s asleep.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Should a predator see through the disguise, the frogs are able to restore blood flow and mobility \u201cimmediately,\u201d says Taboada\u2019s colleague Jesse Delia. \u201cGive them a prod and they\u2019ll wake up and go jump.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Intriguingly, several species of distantly related frogs have evolved the transparency strategy independently, although it\u2019s not yet known whether they are all capable of hiding their blood. \u201cWe\u2019re working on that,\u201d says Delia. He speculates that frogs\u2019 tendency to shut down their metabolism during hibernation might predispose them to such a capability. \u201cIt could be a sort of general frog trick, and these glassfrogs have elaborated it,\u201d he speculates. \u201cThere are a million questions here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Stuart Blackman <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Co-lead author Carlos Taboada<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>\n\n

PHOTOS: CARLOS: LAURA ANDRADE; FROG PORTRAIT: PHIL SAVOIE\/NATUREPL.COM; FROG COMPARISON: JESSE DELIA\/AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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