Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 09:18

Dear Mrs. Dell, I would like to ask you a question. How can ice fish survive without hemoglobin while we can’t? Thank you. I hope you have a safe trip.

Sincerely, Jimmy D. from Mr. Woods 6th period science class

Paula Dell

Hi Jimmy,I thought I sent you an email answering your question, but I don't see a reply here. I hope you got it and haven't been waiting all this time. That's a great question. That is part of what we are studying - what are the differences and adaptations that icefishes have that allow them to survive without hemoglobin. All other vertebrates have hemoglobin in their blood. So these fish are really unusual. There is a lot of dissolved oxygen in the cold Antarctic water that they can use right away. But let's see what our experiments tell us to better answer how they deal without this protein called hemoglobin!