Transparent skin of glass frogs reveals eggs waiting to be hatched

Glass frogs are found in the rainforests of Central and South America and remain one of nature’s more fascinating oddities. It’s name perfectly matches its physical appearance, with translucent skin so clear you can see the frog’s organs.  

The lack of pigmentation that allows us to see the glass frog’s heart pumping and innards hard at work is a mystery to scientists, but they are an impressive sight nonetheless.

Photographer Jamie Culebras recently published a stunning series of new photos of a female glass frog that appeared in the Daily Mail.

Culebras was making an inventory of amphibians and reptiles in the Mashpi Reserve in Ecuador when he came across the female glass frog.

“In the picture you can see perfectly the internal organs of the glass frog,” Culebras told the Daily Mail.

What makes these new photos so noteworthy is the fact that you can see the eggs of the female growing inside her.

“It is a female and you can also see the eggs that are growing inside, the green balls, which will later lay on the underside of a leaf of a plant over a stream and whose mass eggs will be taken care of by the male,” said Culebras. “After seeing this you can understand why these kind of frogs are called glass frogs.”

Glass frogs, unlike most other frog species, do not abandon their eggs and instead, the female lays them and the males carefully stand guard over the eggs 24/7. The males ward off predators until the frogs hatch into tadpoles.

Male glass frogs are also extremely territorial and will fight other trespassing males.

“I love this picture because I love to show wildlife behaviours and curiosities and interesting nature facts,” said Culebras. “It’s wonderful. Every day nature surprises me.”

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By Kay Vandette, Earth.com Staff Writer

Image Credit: Caters News Agency, Daily Mail