The animal world never ceases to amaze, as evidenced by a recent discovery that might make you need to add a new lesson to science classes in schools.
US researchers have discovered that claim is first fish 100% hot blood , a category that until now was reserved for mammals and birds.
The real moon fish inhabits the deep waters of the oceans
Photo: Reuters in Spanish
According to experts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration US (NOAA, for its acronym in English), is the fish called real moon , known by the scientific name of Lampris guttatus and living in the depths ocean.
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 live, what that allows 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 found.
There are some exceptions to this rule, since, 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 regional endotherm.
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
The leaders of the research, published Thursday in the journal Science, they explain usually fish that live in deep, cold waters are usually 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 heat your body has become an active predator that can hunt prey as agile as squid and travel great distances, “said researcher NOAA 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, after the publication Thursday of Study NOAA scientists, some American researchers have questioned that can be considered the real moon fish is 100% hot blood.
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 their hot body as the latter.
According to Bernal told the daily The Washington Post , the real moon has a very warm body center, but the low temperature in the nearest parts abroad .
What it means is that the expert that 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 which have regional endothermy like tuna, which swim after deep, They must rise to the surface to increase its temperature and not slow down.
In view of the disagreement among scientists, have to wait to see if the real moon holds the title of “first warm-blooded fish” discovered in the oceans.
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