A magic trick that even Harry Potter would be jealous of! A multidisciplinary team from the USA has now described in the specialist magazine “Science” how glass frogs use their sophisticated camouflage technology to make themselves virtually completely invisible.
The tropical frogs are nocturnal; during the day they sleep on translucent leaves. During sleep, almost all red blood cells collect in the liver and are protected from light there. This makes glass frogs two to three times more transparent than they are when awake.
Legend:
Jesse Delia
As soon as night falls and the glass frogs become active, the oxygen-rich blood cells flow through the veins again. The blood and circulatory system become visible again.
Trick could one day also help sick people
But it remains a mystery how the glass frogs get so many blood cells into the liver and back into the circulation within seconds without blood clots forming or tissue being damaged. If questions about this mechanism can be clarified, it could also help people affected by vascular diseases.