Meet the real moon, the first fish “warm-blooded” – BBC

Editorial BBC

• May 15, 2015

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The real moon fish lives in deep ocean waters.

The animal world never ceases to amaze, as evidenced by a recent discovery that might make you need to add a new lesson classes natural science in schools.

US researchers have discovered that claim is 100% hot blood, a category that until now was reserved for mammals and birds first fish.

Nicholas Wegner, a researcher at NOAA, proudly shows an exemplary real moon fish.

According to experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, for its acronym in English), is the so-called real sunfish, known by the scientific name of Lampris guttatus and who dwells in the depths of the oceans.

The body temperature of the fish little known, the size of a car wheel and bright colors, is about 5 degrees Celsius above the water in the living, allowing you to swim faster and look better.

Most of the fish are poikilothermic, which means that instead of maintaining a stable internal temperature like mammals, remain more or less the same as the environment in which they find themselves.

There are some exceptions to this rule, because, for example, tuna, some types of shark and swordfish are not considered pure cold blood, because they keep hot parts of your body, such as muscles, eyes or brain, which is known as endothermy regional.

In any case, everyone has a cold heart and experts say that the sunfish is the first to be checked keeps all its organs at a stable temperature.

fins like a bird

After swimming deep, tuna must rise to the surface to increase its temperature and not slow down.

Those responsible for the research, published Thursday in the journal Science , explained that usually the fish that live in deep water and cold often slow and lazy.

Instead, sunfish, moves its pectoral fins like a bird, allowing you to swim quickly and thus pursue their prey.

“Before this discovery, I thought this was a slow fish, like most of those who live in cold environments. But because you can warm your body, it has become a very active predator that can hunt prey as agile such as squid and travel great distances, “said NOAA researcher Nicholas Wegner.

Scientists say the key to sunfish not lose heat in their gills, where they have a kind of radiator with regulating their body temperature.

In addition to the main circuit, having one side to keep the brain and eyes in good condition.

Skepticism

According highlights from California BBC journalist Jaime Gonzalez on Thursday following the publication of the study by scientists from the NOAA, some American researchers have questioned that can be considered the fish 100% real moon is warmblooded

Some sharks have regional endothermy, allowing them, for example, swim faster .

For example, Diego Bernal, a professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, believes that this fish has a regional endothermy like tuna, although it is able to hold more parts of the latter hot body.

According to Bernal told the daily The Washington Post , the real moon has a very warm body center, but the low temperature in parts closest to the outside.

Which means the expert is that it could be considered 100% warmblooded all tissues of the body would have to submit a higher temperature than water in which lives, but that does not happen in parts like wings or the surface of your eyes.

In any case, your ability to keep warm heart is unique and that gives you an advantage over the fish having endothermy regional and tuna, which swim after deep, must rise to the surface to increase its temperature and not slow down.

In view of the disagreement among scientists, have to wait for a time if the moon Real maintains the title of “first warm-blooded fish” discovered in the oceans.