Antarctic icefish are famous for living without red blood cells, but they are not alone.
A species of needle-shaped, warm-water fish called the Asian noodlefish also lacks hemoglobin and red blood cells. Like icefish, its veins are filled with translucent white blood, said H. William Detrich, professor emeritus of marine and environmental sciences, who collaborated with Chinese scientists on a paper about the strange aquatic creatures.
“I thought the story was solved when we did our work on Antarctic icefishes,” Detrich said. “But then the noodlefishes came along and surprised me. It turns out there may be more species than we think that don’t rely on red blood cells to transport oxygen.”
Detrich’s lab at Northeastern University looked closely at the genomic structure of Antarctic icefish and discovered they had lost their ability to produce red blood cells due to the deletion of hemoglobin genes over millions of years.
Read more at Northeastern Global News
Photo by Xuhongyi Zhen
