Can you see my heartbeat?

If you're a newborn goldfish in Japan, expect to live a privacy-less life. Japanese scientists have officially bred see-through fishies, intended to serve as a humane alternative to dissection. (I want one for a pet myself.)

The new transparent breed of fish, whose heart, brain and other organs are visible through its scales and skin, is the first of its kind.

Here's more info from the New York Post:

"You can see a live heart and other organs because the scales and skin have no pigments," Yutaka Tamaru, an associate professor at Mie University, who along with researchers at Nagoya University succeeded in making the fish, known as "ryukin."

So how'd they do it? The scientists picked pale-skinned mutant hatchery goldfish and bred them together. The fish can live up to 20 years and be as heavy as 5 pounds.


Meanwhile, another group of researchers that produced the famous see-through frog is going mass-market.

"[The frogs] are likely to be put on the market next year," said Masayuki Sumida, professor at the Institute for Amphibian Biology of Hiroshima University, adding they will likely fetch below 10,000 yen or around $140 each.