The first naturally fluorescent frog was discovered recently in
Argentina — almost by chance, a member of the team of researchers told
AFP Thursday.
Argentine and Brazilian scientists at the Bernardino
Rivadaiva Natural Sciences Museum made the discovery while studying the
metabolic origin of pigments in a tree-frog species common to South
America.
Under normal light the frog’s translucent skin is a muted
yellowish-brown color with red dots, but when the scientists shone an
ultraviolet light on it, it turned a celestial green.
According to one of them, Carlos Taboada, the case is “the first scientific record of a fluorescent frog.”
“We were very excited,” said his fellow researcher Julian Faivovich. “It was quite disconcerting.”
He
said the discovery “radically modifies what is known about fluorescence
in terrestrial environments, allowing the discovery of new fluorescent
compounds that may have scientific or technological applications.”
It also “generates new questions about visual communication in amphibians,” he said.
The
team studied some 200 more examples to ensure the phenomenon was not
due to the frog’s captivity, and detected the fluorescent properties in
all the specimens.
Maria Lagorio — an independent researcher and
expert in fluorescence, who the research team contacted after the
discovery — told AFP that the trait is common in aquatic species and
seen in some insects, “but has never been scientifically reported in
amphibians.”
The finding was recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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