Scientists create transparent frog

**Jenna** · 09-25-07, 03:50 PM

This transparent frog was created by a research team led by professor Masayuki Sumida at Hiroshima University’s Institute for Amphibian Biology. They weren't just trying to make a froggy freak - the idea behind it is that the transparency will allow the status of internal organs and blood vessels to be observed by lab scientists while the frog is alive and without having to dissect it.

It was developed through selective breeding - two specimens of Japanese brown frog (Rana japonica) that had a genetic mutation giving them pale skin were bred, then their offspring were selectively bred to focus on the transprarency. The frog is something of a rarity - most of the world’s known transparent creatures live underwater, and few are four-legged animals.

Professor Sumida says, "Transparent frogs will prove useful as laboratory animals because they make it easier and cheaper to observe the development and progress of cancer, the growth and aging of internal organs, and the effects of chemicals on organs."

http://www.forteantimes.com/blogs/editorial-blogs/news/964731/scientists-create-transparent-frog.thtml