蜜芽传媒

Cold water ocean fish populations are under threat from climate change and warming waters. This is particularly true close to Antartica where there is an incredible diversity in species, yet most have evolved to live within a narrow temperature band close to freezing point.

Professor Michael Friedlander, Director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech University in the US, explains how his team went fishing in Antarctica to find out how cold water fish respond to warming water and "acute thermal stress."

In lab tests, the researchers saw that the Antarctic fish they caught displayed a different "behavioural repertoire" when placed in tanks of warming warmer. These behaviours include fanning water across their bodies to help with breathing in warm, oxygen poor water.

Prof Friedlander says that whilst it is a complex issue, "there's a small bit of encouragement" that animals such as fish have some behavioural strategies to deal with climate change.

Photo: Iceberg sits still on a calm day in Antarctica. Credit: Getty

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