The Ice Fish or Champsocephalus gunnari is a real marvel of nature. This fish lives in unbelievably frigid waters, temperatures of about 1-2 degree Celsius are common. The Ice Fish have special chemicals in its blood that stop the cold water from freezing their bodies. Their blood is colorless, because it lacks iron and haemoglobin which is the chemical that makes our blood red. These fish are able to survive without hemoglobin due to the high concentration of oxygen context in the cold waters.
Due to the extreme temperature these fish grow quite slow. They can live about 15 years and reach a maximum length during that time of 60cm. Ice Fish are found in the oceans surrounding Antarctica including the Southern Ocean and southern parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The Ice Fish is what you would call pelagic, which simply means that they are found constantly swimming in the mid-water depths, normally around 350 meters. Let us know if we missed anything by leaving a comment below...
The Ice Fish or Champsocephalus gunnari is a real marvel of nature. This fish lives in unbelievably frigid waters, temperatures of about 1-2 degree Celsius are common. The Ice Fish have special chemicals in its blood that stop the cold water from freezing their bodies. Their blood is colorless, because it lacks iron and haemoglobin which is the chemical that makes our blood red. These fish are able to survive without hemoglobin due to the high concentration of oxygen context in the cold waters. 
Due to the extreme temperature these fish grow quite slow. They can live about 15 years and reach a maximum length during that time of 60cm. Ice Fish are found in the oceans surrounding Antarctica including the Southern Ocean and southern parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The Ice Fish is what you would call pelagic, which simply means that they are found constantly swimming in the mid-water depths, normally around 350 meters. Let us know if we missed anything by leaving a comment below...
Those fish are amazing! Thank you for the info, (I didn't copy it:)) Might I remind you though (not a big problem, but), you put two 'a' in are. LOL. i LOVE this website!
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P.s.
Again, amazing fish!
The fish showed on the 1st (upper photo) is the other species of ice-fishes, the bottom dwelling Pagetopsis maculatus (not pelagic Champsocephalus gunnari). The family of icefishes contains of about 26 species.
ReplyDeleteGennadiy Shandikov, Ukraine
are they omnivores? what do they eat? Sharon
ReplyDeleteare they omnivorous? what do they eat?
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