Sunday, November 06, 2005

Couldn't they just be blue? The Evolution of Transparency.


Why are there so many transparent deep sea creatures?
Is transparency better for camouflage when there's so little light at those depths anyway?
How much better is being transparent than being black?... (particularly when you're not hiding in front of anything in particular).
How do cells and tissues avoid making pigmented proteins? (e.g. Haemoglobin)
Why are there no transparent land animals?
All these questions and more are answered here... http://www.cephdev.utmb.edu/refdb/pdf/7568.pdf
Interestingly, it appears some predators have evolved UV vision (under which transparent prey becomes visible!).

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