Creature Wednesday/Icefish

Here we are at another Wednesday and that means it is creature Wednesday and this weeks creature is the Antarctic Icefish, heard of it, nope, me neither...................

When scientists exploring the Antarctic first pulled an icefish out of the water in 1927, they named it the “white-blooded crocodile fish” because even though most fish have red blood like us the icefish blood is cloudy white like milk.

Red blood like ours is full of red blood cells that carry oxygen but in freezing temperatures it gets thick and gloopy. An icefish has no red on blood cells making its blood white and very runny, so it can flow easily, helping the fish to cope with the cold. However, this blood can't carry much oxygen so icefish don't have much energy and they move slowly.

Icefish aren't just cool the are actually super-cooled, meaning below freezing point. The water they swim in is often below zero degrees but it doesn't freeze because it's salty. The icefish are just as cold but chemicals in their blood lower their freezing point, so they don't turn into blocks of ice.

The icefish has transparent skin and its white blood give it a spooky ghostly appearance.