The ocellated icefish (Chionodraco rastrospinosus) has gin-clear blood. And it has no scales. And it lives nowhere but the inky depths down to 3,200 feet (1 kilometer) in the icy waters off Antarctica. Other than that, it’s just an ordinary fish.
The Tokyo Sea Life Park is the only place with ocellated icefish in captivity, Agence France-Presse reports. “Luckily, we have a male and a female, and they spawned in January,” Satoshi Tada, an education specialist at the center, told AFP.
I wonder how difficult it was to get them to breed. Some fish are really easy, others are damned difficult.
Scientists hope the mated pair of icefish and their offspring in Tokyo will help researchers unlock the secrets of how the fish manages to survive without hemoglobin to carry oxygen to its cells.
It’s possible, some scientists speculate, that the icefish’s unusually large heart might help move oxygen through its body using blood plasma instead of hemoglobin.
Also, with no scales to get in the way, the icefish may absorb some oxygen directly through its skin: Cold, polar water is richer in oxygen than warmer waters.
But the mystery surrounding the icefish’s lack of hemoglobin may take years to solve. “More studies are needed on the question,” Tada said.
This fish is a standard talking point of ichthyology 100, the general consensus is that since cold water has a very high saturation for oxygen that the fish uses its whole body as a giant gill to exchange oxygen, still that may be pure speculation.
Check out the video, the guy is all kinds of cute!
H/t Alan
I wonder what they taste like ;).
Good question!!