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It look kind of deep deep sea fish to me.
The transparent creatures are part of efforts to reduce the need for dissections, which have become increasingly controversial, particularly in schools. -- PHOTO: AFP
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TOKYO - FIRST came see-through frogs. Now Japanese researchers have succeeded in producing goldfish whose beating hearts can be seen through translucent scales and skin.
The transparent creatures are part of efforts to reduce the need for dissections, which have become increasingly controversial, particularly in schools.
'You can see a live heart and other organs because the scales and skin have no pigments,' said Yutaka Tamaru, an associate professor in the department of life science at Mie University. The joint team of researchers at Mie University and Nagoya University in central Japan produced the 'ryukin' goldfish by picking mutant hatchery goldfish with pale skin and breeding them together.
The fish are expected to live up to roughly 20 years and could grow as long as 25 centimetres (10 inches) and weigh more than two kilograms (five pounds), much bigger than other fish used in experiments, such as zebrafish and Japanese medaka, Mr Tamaru said. Meanwhile another group of researchers who announced in 2007 they had developed see-through frogs said they planned to start selling the four-legged creatures, whose skin is transparent from the tadpole stage.
Masayuki Sumida, professor at the Institute for Amphibian Biology of Hiroshima University said see-through tadpoles and adult frogs would be available in the first half of next year in Japan for laboratories and schools and as pets, with a price tag expected to be below 10,000 yen (110 dollars) each. He also wants to sell the creature abroad.
Animal rights activists have pressed for humane alternatives to dissections, such as using computer simulations. Mr Sumida's team produced the creature from rare mutants of the Japanese brown frog, or Rena japonica, whose backs are usually ochre or brown. Two kinds of recessive genes have been known to cause the frog to be pale. While goldfish are easier to keep, frogs are higher forms of life and therefore preferable for experiments, Mr Sumida said. -- AFP
Taken from The Straits Times
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It look kind of deep deep sea fish to me.
Looks like selective breeding from calico stocks.
Nice albino goldfish. How much does that cost you?
Dun think so will hit S'pore's market any time soon......
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