ICE FISH

ICE FISH

"Ice Fish"
The Only Vertebrate Animal With No Haemoglobin. Red Blood Cells Are Usually Absent And If Present They Are Rare And Non-functional.
Because This Fish Lives In Really Low Temperature Of Antarctica....

Introduction:

The crocodile icefish or white-blooded fish (Channichthyidae) are a family of perciform fish found in the cold waters around Antarctica and southern South America. Water temperature can drop to -1.9°C (the freezing point of seawater) in the Antarctic sea, but stays rather constant.

Discovery:

About 25 species of crocodile icefish are currently recognized.

Diet:

They feed on krill, copepods, and other fish.

Size:

Icefish reach total length of 25–75 cm.

Haemoglobin:

Channichthyidae are the only known vertebrates without hemoglobin, an oxygen transport protein in the blood. Although they do not manufacture hemoglobin, remnants of hemoglobin genes can be found in their genome. The hemoglobin protein is made of two subunits (alpha and beta). Almost all of the alpha and beta subunit genes have been lost from the genomes of 15 of the 16 icefish species. In only one of the icefish species, Neopagetopsis ionah, there is a more complete, but still non functional hemoglobin gene.

Summary:

Move over the rest of you haemoglobin-dependent vertebrates, the ocellated icefish is here – and it's getting by quite nicely without any haemoglobin at all! Not only does Chionodraco rastrospinosus make do without the substance in red blood cells that carries oxygen around the body and gives blood its red colour (making its blood transparent!), but this amazing fish is also quite scaleless. The only place to see it in captivity is at the Tokyo Sea Life Park, where a male and female have just recently spawned, giving researchers the chance to study the animals more closely.

It's believed that ocellated icefish overcome their anatomical quirks thanks to large hearts and the use of blood plasma to circulate oxygen throughout the body. It's also possible that their scaleless skin is able to absorb oxygen from the freezing and nutrient-rich waters of the Antarctic Ocean, where they are found.

Source Of Summary