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Crystal frog (Hyalinobatrachium Fleischmann).
A common name of the amphibians belonging to the centrolenid family so called because of their translucent abdominal skin. Native to the cloud forests of Central and South America, 13 species have been identified in Costa Rica. These tree-dwelling nocturnal frogs remain camouflaged during the day on the underside of the leaves.

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General Characteristics

They're small. They measure between 20 and 23 mm. They live in the branches and leaves of certain trees. They feed on small insects. Their coloration is fascinating, they are almost always greenish with small yellow dots in their dorsal area. They have a translucent ventral region, through it you can observe their internal organs and their bones (which also have a greenish color); for that reason, it receives the nickname of crystal frog or glass frog lives in the humid forests. It measures more than 2 centimeters in length and is an arboreal species of nocturnal habits.

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All over the world, there are about sixty different species with a surprising characteristic: their meat is practically transparent (in the central part).

Crystal frogs usually live in some trees near streams, and their main food, like the rest of their counterparts, is insects.

Physical and biological

Habitat

Your organs can be seen through the skin

It is endemic to the evergreen seasonal forests of the Western Ecuadorian region and restricted to highly fragmented forests of less than 100 km2 in the Mache-Chindul Mountain Range, northwestern coastal Ecuador, between 100 and 640 meters.

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Reproduction

Crystal frog egg-laying.

Being arboreal, they live along streams where they deposit their eggs on the leaves of shrubs and trees that hang over the water of streams or over stones on the edges of waterfalls.

The females of this species lay 18 to 30 eggs in each laying on the underside of a leaf. After the hatching of the eggs, the tadpoles complete their development in the water.

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The males remain close to the egg-laying, which can be on both sides of the leaves, protecting them from possible predators until they fall into the water in the form of tadpoles. Males usually emit their songs from leaves near the eggs and in some species, there is parental care.

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After hatching, the tadpoles fall into the water where they finish their development. These tadpoles are very particular for being elongated and with powerful tails and thin fins adapted to live buried in the bottom of streams of running water. During the non-breeding season, at least some species live in the canopy of trees.

Amazing facts about Crystal frog

Its skin is practically transparent (in the central part).

What is really curious about this frog species is its light green dorsal coloration with yellow tints and a transparent belly skin, so that its internal organs are visible. Heart, intestines, liver, stomach and even eggs are visible through its thin and delicate transparent skin.

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These frogs are useful to investigate some diseases such as cancer in vivo without the need to dissect the animal or study its functioning organs in universities without the need to kill it.

Today they are on the verge of extinction due to water pollution and deforestation.

Thank you for reading 😉

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