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ScienceDaily: Thin Tough Skin, Slow-growing Gills Protect Larval Antarctic Fish

Very thin but hardy, unblemished skin and slow developing gills appear to be keys to survival for newly hatched Antarctic notothenioids, a group of fish whose adults thrive in icy waters because of antifreeze proteins (AFPs) in their blood.

Paul A. Cziko, left) and Kevin Hoefling, a scientific research diver, prepare to place an oceanic current meter (yellow ball) and its home-made stand into the water. The 250-pound equipment is dropped off the edge of the ice floe to rest on the sea floor. A current meter allows scientists to obtain information on the velocity of seawater at a single location. (Photo by Bryan Palmintier)

Such adaptations are important, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say, because the larval fish of at least two species of notothenioids that inhabit the Ross Sea at McMurdo Sound and Terra Nova Bay surprisingly lack sufficient antifreeze to protect them through their first three months of life.

The unexpected discovery, reported online by the Journal of Experimental Biology ahead of regular publication, counters the assumption that these vital proteins must be present from the time of hatching — a view held by scientists since fish AFPs were found in the 1960s.