Royal Society Open Science<\/em>, the study is the first of its kind to assess how Antarctic fish make and store protein as growth compared to those from temperate waters.<\/p>\nIt also provides one of the largest comparative studies of protein metabolism, growth, and food consumption in fish across a wide range of biologically relevant habitat temperatures.<\/p>\n
Thermally constrained fish<\/h3>\n Dr Keiron Fraser, Lecturer in Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth and the study\u2019s lead author, said:\u00a0\u201cAntarctic fish are highly thermally constrained and cannot live long-term at temperatures much above those that they currently inhabit. In contrast, many temperate species are more tolerant of a wide range of temperatures as they often inhabit extensive latitudinal ranges.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur data shows that the rates of growth and protein metabolism in an Antarctic species are significantly lower than in the temperate species, even when held at the same water temperature. As ocean temperatures increase with global warming, it is a timely reminder of the differences in species that have evolved to live at widely different temperatures.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Antarctic fish are increasingly exposed to higher temperatures, it will have implications for their survival, as well as effects on many critical physiological processes, including growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Lloyd Peck, lead physiologist on animal adaptations in extreme environments from the British Antarctic Survey, concluded: \u201cThere is unexpectedly high biodiversity on the seabed in Antarctica, with estimates of around 20,000 species living there. So far all of the species studied have great problems making proteins and it seems this is a ubiquitous constraint on life at low temperature.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many other unique adaptations in Antarctic marine species, such as 16 species of fish that are the only animals with backbones that do not have red blood cells or haemoglobin to carry oxygen around their bodies, or giant sea spiders thousands of times heavier than the largest in temperate zones.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs well as the issues with making proteins, many of these other adaptations might make life easier in an environment with constant low temperatures, but they also appear to reduce abilities to survive in changing environments, which makes the future prospects for many Antarctic marine species bleak.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Scientists have conducted a study that highlights how Antarctic fish have a much lower growth rate than warmer water fish. Antarctic fish have adapted over millennia to survive in the freezing temperatures of the Southern Ocean. However, in doing so, they have lost their ability to grow at rates seen in their warmer water cousins, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":19241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24433,785],"tags":[700,789],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Study proves that Antarctic fish have fundamental growth limitations<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n