A warm-blooded fish has been discovered.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Picard
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Picard

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Actually this well-known fish has only recently been identified by scientists as having the insulative properties to make it not a cold blooded creature.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/15/opinions/warm-blooded-fish/index.html

The opah (Lampris guttatus) has evolved a unique solution to this problem. A team from the NOAA SouthWest Fisheries Science Center in California, led by Nicholas Wegner, discovered the fish has a special insulated network of blood vessels between the heart and the gills. These vessels act as a heat exchanger in which warm blood from the heart reheats oxygenated blood leaving the gills before it goes to the body. In this way heat is retained and not dissipated into the ocean.

This enables the opah to maintain a body temperature 5°C higher than the surrounding water and to dive 500 metres below the surface without cooling down. An insulating layer of fat in the skin keeps the heart, brain, muscles and vital organs warm.
Click to expand...


150515112710-warm-blood-fish-3-medium-plus-169.jpg


It's not a small fish.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
That is really amazing. It looks pretty too.
 
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