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Scientists Discover First Warm-Blooded Fish

Posted by samzenpus on from the keeping-it-warm dept.

sciencehabit writes: The opah lives in the dark, chilly depths of the world's oceans, using heated blood to keep warm. It's the first fish found to be fully warm-blooded. Certain sharks and tuna can warm regions of their body such as swimming muscles and the brain but must return to the surface to protect vital organs from the effects of the cold. The opah on the other hand, generates heat from its pectoral muscles, and conserves that warmth thanks to body fat and the special structure of its gills. “It’s a remarkable adaptation for a fish,” says Diego Bernal, a fish physiologist at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

33 comments

  1. Are they Huuuge Pectoral Muscles? by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Would they make Ren Hoeck envious?

    1. Re:Are they Huuuge Pectoral Muscles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some moderator clearly hates Ren and Stimpy.
      Obligatory: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o...

    2. Re:Are they Huuuge Pectoral Muscles? by Khyber · · Score: 1

      No, it's more likely those with current mod points were born in the late 90s and thus totally clueless about the awesomeness of Ren & Stimpy.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  2. Re:Cali even has progressive fish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Warm-blooded creatures is pretty new for Cali tho'.

  3. Yum! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What did it taste like?

  4. Survival Adaption by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Warm bloodedness is a survival adaption owing to human's adversion to warm sushi. I bet these fry up wonderfully though.

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    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    1. Re:Survival Adaption by JimSadler · · Score: 2

      Humans fry up pretty well. Humans are much like pork. And we don't have to scour the ocean depths to snag humans. Sadly most of my neighbors are simply too old to make a decent meal so when hard times come i'll have to get out of my neighborhood to find a young tenderonni.

    2. Re:Survival Adaption by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 1

      Well played sir, well played.

      --

      Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

      Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    3. Re:Survival Adaption by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      Warm bloodedness is a survival adaption owing to human's adversion to warm sushi.

      Tell that to the tuna (who are a sushi favorite, and partially warm-blooded).

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      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  5. What's next? by GeekWithAKnife · · Score: 0


    An honest politician?!

    ...and I thought I saw everything after a kosher pig.

    --
    A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
    1. Re:What's next? by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      A fish blooded worm.

  6. Re:the news... wow... by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Informative

    Let me know when your scientists discover Tuna.

    The inability to even read the second line of the summary... wow...

    But then again idiots banging out a rapid reply based on a partial reading of the headline only certainly ISN'T news here.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  7. Re:the news... wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let us know when you RTFS? (*fully* warm blooded)

  8. Re:the news... wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It does seem like a rather arbitrary distinction between opah and other warm-blooded fish, and the headline is no less sensational than what we should expect. Just think what discoveries science has made recently that will never be reported publically because the discovery is deemed too esoteric for mainstream journalism. But everyone understands the idea of warm-bloodedness/cold-bloodedness even if biology of it is deeply shrowded in science books.

  9. Red Lobster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How long until this lil fella is on the menu at RL? Warm blooded fish sounds delish!

    1. Re: Red Lobster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They are quite tasty and there are a lot of different cuts in this fish, at least one of which is "similar" to beef. I guess this explains that. I dont think there are a lot of these guys out there and are generally not a targeted species, but I 've seen it on the menu at a number of smaller establishments. It's usually a special catch though, and typically the more tuna-like cuts.

      I discovered this fish years ago and am doing my best to control the population.

    2. Re: Red Lobster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thats no way to talk about your sis

  10. Oprah? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who first read it as Oprah and imagined this fish conducting a deep-sea talk show?

    1. Re:Oprah? by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      I also read it as Oprah, and when I looked at the article I saw a bloated monstrosity. Yep, Oprah.

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  11. add skunk cabbage too to the discusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.damninteresting.com/warm-blooded-plants/

  12. Not True by Capt+James+McCarthy · · Score: 1

    Aquaman is a warm blooded fish.

    --
    There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
    1. Re:Not True by coughfeeman · · Score: 1

      I heard Kanye West is a hot-blooded gay fish.

  13. Tetrapods by morgauxo · · Score: 1

    Is it possible then that the ancestors of the first tetrapods had dormant genes for being warm blooded even before they walked up onto the land?

    1. Re:Tetrapods by Solandri · · Score: 4, Informative

      Water conducts heat away about 25x faster than air, and the heat transfer rate is proportional to temperature differential. Until the organism gets to a very large size or develops some serious insulation, trying to maintain a constant body temperature underwater is a lost cause.

      TFA describees an adaptation for minimizing loss of internal heat to the water (counter-current heat exchange of blood entering/leaving the gills). An adaptation that AFAIK no land animals has, though I have heard of some animals having it in their extremities (blood leaving their core to the extremities exchanges heat with blood returning from the extremities, thus preserving internal body heat. I'd be curious if birds which fly really high (upwards of 30,000 ft) have it in their lungs, or if the energy consumption needed to fly at those altitudes is sufficient to offset any heat loss.

      It's also a bit of a stretch to call this warm bloodedness. It's not thermal homeostasis, the process that keeps your internal body temperature at 37 C regardless of environmental conditions.

  14. Re:the news... wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And you're annoying. The proof is in you being pedantic. The title makes complete sense to anyone with half a brain.

  15. Re:the news... wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The inability to even read the second line of the summary... wow...

    The inability to click a link to confirm that the second line of the summary fails to disqualify tuna from being warm-blooded and is, at best, a specious claim... wow

    But then again having shit for brains and insulting others with no understanding of the subject matter certainly ISN'T news here.

  16. Most importantly, how does it taste? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How did they prepare it? Pan Fried? Steamed? Sushi?

  17. Evolution? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nuff said?

  18. But how does it taste? by who_stole_my_kidneys · · Score: 1

    Seriously ?