Creatures from the deep freeze

[Blackleaf]

Creatures from the deep freeze

By FIONA MacRAE
26th February 2007

The new species, some of which are pictured below, were found in the west of the continent of Antarctica



Hidden for thousands of years, these colourful creatures have come to light because of the fastest-rising temperatures on Earth.

Found on the Antarctic seabed, they were concealed from the rest of the world by ice shelves hundreds of feet thick.

The ice fish: with no red blood cells, this strange creature is able to pump its blood around its body more quickly



The collapse of these shelves - caused by global warming - has revealed the beauty of the inhabitants for the first time.

A ten week voyage by marine biologists led to the chronicling of 1,000 different species, including several new to science.

Among the potential new species are 15 new shrimplike crustaceans, giant barnacles, antarctic octopus, cold water-loving corals and ice fish, which, unlike most animals, do not have any red blood cells.

The ice shelves, which were up to 600 feet thick, covered an area the size of Jamaica in the Weddell Sea, off Western Antarctica.

Formed thousands of years ago, the ice shelves collapsed after temperatures rose by 2.5c in just 50 years.

Researcher Dr Gauthier Chapelle said: "This is virgin geography. If we don't find out what this area is like now, we won't have any basis to know in 20 years' time how global warming has altered the ecosystem."

Hidden depths: the Antarctic octopus



dailymail.co.uk

 

[darkbeaver]

Beautiful stuff. When can we start eating them?:wave:

 

[hermanntrude]

i'm interested in the thing with no red blood cells. I wonder how it's oxygen circulation works

 

[Tonington]

The ice fish was first noted some time in the early 1900s. The going hypothesis is that at the low temperatures the absence of erythrocytes are not that significant. The metabolic rates of cold blooded animals are understandably low at those temperatures. The dissolved oxygen that does circulate through the blood is very low, something like one tenth of related teleosts. Very interesting specimen to marine biologists and geneticists. The gene which codes for blood cells is passed on from fish to humans, so this "bloodless" fish provides a good specimen for analyzing the genomes between species and any novel traits. I wish we had some at my school!

 

[hermanntrude]

The ice fish was first noted some time in the early 1900s. The going hypothesis is that at the low temperatures the absence of erythrocytes are not that significant. The metabolic rates of cold blooded animals are understandably low at those temperatures. The dissolved oxygen that does circulate through the blood is very low, something like one tenth of related teleosts. Very interesting specimen to marine biologists and geneticists. The gene which codes for blood cells is passed on from fish to humans, so this "bloodless" fish provides a good specimen for analyzing the genomes between species and any novel traits. I wish we had some at my school!

thanks for the info. I love that i learn so much on this forum

 

[Tonington]

I agree, the learning is great. Maybe in the articles and discussions section we could all give a break down on our respected fields/professions. I know you're into the Chemistry, which I have to admit I'm very shaky on. I'm decent with Math, but my favorite is Biology. I'd like to get a little stronger with bio-chemistry, next years course.

You're in the nano-technology if I remember correctly? I think that's interesting stuff. My chem prof touched on it, but only a scrape on the surface. I read a neat article in National Geographic a while back, really amazing stuff.

 

[L Gilbert]

I would think that why these fish don't have red blood cells is because there's probably no iron or very little in them. The oxygen is probably carried by some other element. Ton's right, It'd be nifty to snoop around inside one and find out stuff like that.
Um, I'm interested in just about any science, so I don't really have a special interest in one particular branch or branch specialty. Besides, I'm just a dumb firefighter/mechanic.

 

[Tonington]

I would think that why these fish don't have red blood cells is because there's probably no iron or very little in them. The oxygen is probably carried by some other element. Ton's right, It'd be nifty to snoop around inside one and find out stuff like that.
Um, I'm interested in just about any science, so I don't really have a special interest in one particular branch or branch specialty. Besides, I'm just a dumb firefighter/mechanic.

Haha, before I went to school I was just a dumb employee unpacking freight at Zeller's SHUDDER, I hated that job enough to decide to get off my @ss and head to school, best decision I ever made. (but not a cheap one!)

As to the ice fish again, I think the concentration of oxygen in the fishies body is dependant on the dissolved oxygen content of the surrounding water. Just strips the oxygen when it passes across the gill lamellae, and then just circulates as that dissolved oxygen in the bloodstream.. I wonder how sensitive this fish would be to temperature changes, I'm guessing it would be a pretty narrow margin. Temperature goes up, metabolism goes up, dissolved oxygen decreases....

 

[L Gilbert]

Yeah, but isn't it iron in the blood that makes it red?
(Um, never took biology in school or college, but I did have the second highest ticket available in first response).

 

[Tonington]

Yup, thats why sometimes people refered to these guys as "bloodless" fishes. Really they just have plasma for blood.

 

[L Gilbert]

Speaking of Antarctica, didja know that there's a body of water there that has temperatures of around -40° C? Don Juan Pond (77°34'S, 161°11'E). It's due to an extremely high concentration of CaCl².

 

[karrie]

The metabolic rates of cold blooded animals are understandably low at those temperatures. The dissolved oxygen that does circulate through the blood is very low, something like one tenth of related teleosts.

The article implied that the fish has a very high metabolism, stating that the reason for the lack of red blood cells was so that it can pump its blood more quickly. Or would it simply be a higher, slow metabolism?

 

[Tonington]

The increased heart rate is kinda odd. Although they don't have any haemoglobin, some do have myoglobin, it's kinda like an octane booster in an engine. Some of the ice fish familly have neither of these. These fish are famous for producing an antifreeze protein, and interestingly enough an unrelated species of cod ended up producing the same protein.