1. Glass Frogs
Glass frog (or Glassfrogs) is the common name for the frogs of the amphibian family Centrolenidae (order Anura). While the general background coloration of most glass frogs is primarily lime green, the abdominal skin of some members of this family is transparent. The internal viscera, including the heart, liver, and gastrointestinal tract are visible through this translucent skin, hence the common name.
Characteristics
Glass frogs are generally small, ranging from 3 to 7.5 centimetres (1.2 to 3.0 in) in length. The frog is known to eat its own young. They are green in color over most of their bodies, save for the skin along the lower surface of the body, which is translucent.Glass frogs are similar in appearance to some green frogs of the genus Eleutherodactylus and to some tree frogs of the family Hylidae. However, hylid tree frogs have eyes that face to the side, whilst those of glass frogs face forward. Some species of green tree frogs (especially juveniles), such as Hyloscirtus palmeri and Hypsiboas pellucens, have the transparent abdominal skin typical of glass frogs, but they also have calcars on the heels, a character not present in any species of the family Centrolenidae.
2. Barreleye (Macropinna microstoma)
Barreleyes, also known as spook fish (a name also applied to several species of chimaera), are small, unusual-looking deep-sea osmeriform fish comprising the family Opisthoproctidae. Found in tropical-to-temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, the family contains thirteen species in six genera (four of which are monotypic).
These fish are named for their barrel-shaped, tubular eyes which are generally directed upwards to detect the silhouettes of available prey; however, according to Robison and Reisenbichler these fish are capable of directing their eyes forward as well. The family name Opisthoproctidae is derived from the Greek words opisthe ("behind") and proktos ("anus").
Physical description
The morphology of the Opisthoproctidae varies between three main forms: the stout, deep-bodied barreleyes of the genera Opisthoproctus and Macropinna; the extremely slender and elongate spookfishes of the genera Dolichopteryx and Bathylychnops; and the intermediate fusiform spookfishes of the genera Rhynchohyalus and Winteria.All species have large, telescoping eyes which dominate and protrude from the skull, but are enclosed within a large transparent dome of soft tissue. These eyes generally gaze upwards, but can also be directed forwards. The opisthoproctid eye has a large lens and a retina with an exceptionally high complement of rod cells and a high density of rhodopsin (the "visual purple" pigment); there are no cone cells. To better serve their vision, barreleyes have large, dome-shaped transparent heads; this presumably allows the eyes to collect even more incident light and likely protects the sensitive eyes from the nematocysts (stinging cells) of the siphonophores from which it is believed the Barreleye steals food. It may also serve as an accessory lens (modulated by intrinsic or peripheral muscles), or refracts light with an index very close to seawater. A recent study disclosed that Dolichopteryx longipes is the only vertebrate known to use a mirror (as well as a lens) in its eyes.
The toothless mouth is small and terminal, ending in a pointed snout. As in related families (e.g. Argentinidae), there is an epibranchial or crumenal organ present behind the fourth gill arch. This organ-analogous to the gizzard—consists of a small diverticulum (pouch) wherein the gill rakers insert and interdigitate for the purpose of grinding up ingested material. In life, the body of most species is a dark brown covered in large, silvery imbricate scales; but these are absent in Dolichopteryx, leaving the body itself a transparent white. In all species a variable number of dark melanophores colour the muzzle, ventral surface, and midline.
3. Glasswing Butterfly (Greta Oto)
The Glasswing (Greta oto) is a brush-footed butterfly, and is a member of the subfamily Danainae, tribe Ithomiini, subtribe Godyridina. Its wings are translucent, with a wingspan of 2.2 to 2.4 in (5.6 to 6.1 cm).Its most common English name is glasswing, and its Spanish name is "espejitos", which means "little mirrors." Indeed, the tissue between the veins of its wings looks like glass, as it lacks the coloured scales found in other butterflies. The opaque borders of its wings are dark brown sometimes tinted with red or orange, and its body is dark in color.
The Greta oto may also be found in Venezuela, as there are photographs taken in the mountain area around the City of Caracas.
G. oto adults also exhibit a number of interesting behaviors, such as long migrations and lekking among males.
4. Glass Squid (Teuthowenia pellucida)
The googly-eyed glass squid (Teuthowenia pellucida) is a rare deep-sea glass squid whose habitat ranges throughout the oceans of the southern hemisphere. Specimens have been discovered as early as 1910; however, little was known of the species until 2007, when it was mentioned in Clair Nouvian's The Deep.
Characteristics
The googly-eyed glass squid is a blue, transparent organism with a body size of approximately 200 mm (7.9 in.) and notably large eyes. Mantle thickness is only a few millimeters. Females are slightly larger than males. The squid has eight short tentacles and a slightly longer pair at the end of its rather swollen body. The only visible internal organ is the digestive gland, similar to the liver of a chordate. As a defense, the squid is able to engorge itself with surrounding water to dramatically increase in size, appearing more intimidating. The squid is also able to escape predators using jet propulsion.5. Transparent Zebrafish
Zebrafish are genetically similar to humans and are good models for human biology and disease. Now, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have created a zebrafish that is transparent throughout its life. The new fish allows scientists to directly view its internal organs, and observe processes like tumor metastasis and blood production after bone-marrow transplant in a living organism.
6. Transparent Icefish
This Antarctic ice fish, formally called Chionodraco hamatus ”can withstand temperatures that freeze the blood of all other types of fish”. A special anti-freeze helps keep it alive in chill waters around the frozen continent. (This finger-length juvenile was photographed by Russ Hopcroft of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.) The fish is among thousands of creatures found to be teeming in Antarctic and Arctic waters by the Census — an international project to map life in the oceans. Among theories are that chilly deep ocean currents carry larvae north from Antarctica. Scientists say that’s more likely than that got carried by a long-distance migrating bird or whale, or even by a ship.
7. Transparent Amphipod
This unusual animal is one of the many strange species recently found on an expedition to a deep-sea mountain range in the North Atlantic. In an ironic strategy for survival, this tiny shrimplike creature shows everything it has, inside and out, in an attempt to disappear. Many other small deep-sea creatures are transparent as well, or nearly so, to better camouflage themselves in their murky surroundings, scientists say.
8. Transparent Larval Shrimp
Commonly found in the salt waters of Hawaii. These transparent Larval shrimps looks like the transparent jellyfish.
9. Transparent Salp
WHOI biologist Larry Madin sped through space and time in December 2004—going from late fall in New England at WHOI to early summer in the Southern Ocean aboard the R/V Laurence M. Gould. Madin led a National Science Foundation-sponsored research expedition across the Drake Passage and the Antarctic Circle. He and colleagues towed nets behind the vessel and scuba dove day and night in -1°C (30°F) water (though “night” in December in the Antarctic is only a brief dusk).
Their quest was salps—transparent, gelatinous animals whose large populations contain both 10-centimeter-long specimens (right) and colonies that form chains several meters long. The researchers sought to learn the rudiments of this little-known southern hemispheric species: how much they eat, how fast they reproduce, and how much organic matter they transport to deeper water.
Salps can quickly generate massive populations that consume microscopic marine plants called diatoms. In some years, salp swarms may replace krill, which also eat diatoms. But while krill provide a rich, critical food source for whales and penguins, salps provide little nutrition.
Scientists speculate that global warming may favor salps over krill because diminishing sea ice provides less shelter and food for young krill. Madin’s group will revisit the area next February to continue to learn more about salps’ role in the fertile Southern Ocean ecosystem.
10. Transparent Jellyfish
This jellyfish is rather small and not very developed. It looks like a clear sandwich bag floating in the ocean. Or to me, it looked as though it was mucus floating in the ocean. I saw it while snorkeling at Las Caletas (near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico). People weren’t sure if it was a jellyfish or not and was, at most, two feet away from it when people noticed it. They didn’t feel anything while in the ocean but noticed a large red patch on the shoulder when it got out of the ocean. It was a firey, burning sensation whenever anything touched it.. The whole process of the mark seemed like a curling iron burn, bright red, turned to a brownish red and blistering to a brownish scab. They didn’t bump into the reef at all and don’t know what else it could have been from.
