Goldfish go months without oxygen by making alcohol inside cells

[Lance]

( I am sure you can ignore the point on evolution)

From New Scientist magazine 

GOLDFISH and their wild crucian carp relatives can survive for five months without breathing oxygen – and now we know how.

The fish carry a set of enzymes that, when oxygen levels drop, helps convert carbohydrates into alcohol that can be released through the gills.

For most animals, including humans, a lack of oxygen can be fatal in minutes. We can metabolise carbohydrates without oxygen, but the process generates toxic lactic acid that quickly builds up in our bodies.

The carp – and goldfish – have developed a workaround. When they metabolise carbohydrates anaerobically, the end product is alcohol, which is easier to remove.

"The adaptation is very rare among animals," says Michael Berenbrink at the University of Liverpool in the UK.

Berenbrink and Cathrine Fagernes at the University of Oslo, Norway, and their colleagues discovered that the fish carry an extra set of the enzymes that specifically helps generate alcohol when metabolism occurs in the absence of oxygen (Scientific Reports, doi.org/cbq7). The enzymes act in essentially the same way as brewer's yeast.

The adaptation evolved 8 million years ago in the common ancestor of carp and goldfish, via a process known as whole-genome duplication. This is when an organism by chance ends up with an extra set of its genes, which can then be repurposed.

By making alcohol, crucian carp and goldfish can survive all winter in icy ponds when other fish would suffocate, says Fagernes.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Goldfish survive months without oxygen by brewing booze"

[New World Explorer]

In humans we call this ..alcoholism ..

[Miss Bea]

Isn’t that something? Those innocent little inconspicuous fishes are pretty special. What we don’t know...yes, we will be learning, literally forever. Good for the gold Fishes!

[Brother_Bliss]

Two thoughts came to mind as I read this.....

 

1) This put a whole new spin on "beer battered fish" 

 

2) This would be an interesting entry for our "Was it Designed?" series  

[Tortuga]

20 hours ago, Gregexplore said:

In humans we call this ..alcoholism ..

Fish call it 'getting tanked'...

[Musky]

Sounds fishy to me. 

[Tortuga]

5 minutes ago, Musky said:

Sounds fishy to me. 

 

I always wondered why some guys liked to go ice fishing in the dead of winter...

Probably looking for that elusive Merlot fish or Bourbon fish...

[New World Explorer]

1 hour ago, Tortuga said:

 

I always wondered why some guys liked to go ice fishing in the dead of winter...

Probably looking for that elusive Merlot fish or Bourbon fish...

They are looking for this..