Mysterious 'Ocellated Ice Fish' has Clear Blood

Tokyo Sea Life Park is the only aquarium in the world that houses a species of the ocellated ice fish, which lives in the freezing waters of the Antarctic Ocean at a depth of 3,300 feet.

Researchers at the Tokyo Sea Life have, for the first time, revealed the secrets of this mysterious fish that arrived in Japan in 2011 through krill fishermen. They managed to find clues on how this fish survives in the ocean like other fishes, but with clear blood, reports AFP.

According to Satoshi Tada, an education specialist at the center, not much is known about this fish. Luckily, the center had a male and a female, which spawned in the month of January. With an increase in their population, it will be easy to know more about this intriguing fish.

Experts state that the fish lacks hemoglobin, which is a protein possessed by every animal with bones. Apart from this, the fish lacks scales. The reason why the fish is able to stay without hemoglobin is because the size of its heart: it is fairly large and uses blood plasma to circulate oxygen throughout the body. The skin of the fish, which lacks scales, absorbs oxygen from its surroundings, reports Independent. Co.

According to Naoaki Kawahara, a fish keeper at Tokyo Sea Life Park, the idea to exhibit the ocelatted ice fish started after the aquarium realized that Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd.'s krill boats rarely catch the fish alive in the Antarctic Ocean, as reported by JapanTimes.

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