Mechanisms And Evolution Of Hypoxia Tolerance In Fish

Main Category: Veterinary
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 05 Nov 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Ever wondered why animals live where they do? The answer to this question is simply that animals live where they do, in part, because they can.

The marine intertidal environment is possibly one of the nastiest places on earth with huge fluctuations in oxygen, yet a group of small benthic fishes thrive here unlike their close relatives in the sea. Intertidal fishes have evolved the capacity to extract more O2 from their environment via adaptive changes in the O2 carrying protein, haemoglobin.

Lacking these special haemoglobin adaptations prevents the subtidal fishes from exploring far up the intertidal.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

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