Lack of Oxygen, How Do Blind Cavefish Survive?

KOMPAS.com- Fish Cavefish have been inhabitant of dark caves for thousands of years. During that time, fish This blind person develops the ability to adapt to living in a minimal environment oxygen.

The forms of adaptation they do include removing the eyes, and having a pale body color.

But it turns out that this is not the only form of adaptation that is being carried out cavefish. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati say the fish also have an extraordinary physiology that helps them cope with low-oxygen environments.

These results were revealed after researchers conducted a study on cavefish Mexico in three Mexican cave populations namely Chica, Tinaja, and Pachon.

quote PhysSaturday (12/3/2022) in his study, researchers observed Mexican cavefish moving around all the time while they had little access to nutrients.

“They use up energy but where does it come from,” said Tyler Boggs, lead author of the study.

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Puzzle way Cavefish The survival was answered after researchers took blood samples of cavefish fish.

As a result, researchers found the Mexican cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus) produce more hemoglobin through much larger red blood cells compared to surface-dwelling fish.

Hemoglobin itself helps the body carry oxygen and carbon dioxide between cells, fish organs, and their gills.

Researchers assume that in order to produce more hemoglobin, fish must have a higher hematocrit. Hematocrit is a clinical measure of the relative contribution of red blood cells to whole blood.

The red blood cells of cavefish fish are also known to be larger than those of fish that live on the surface.

“That size difference largely explains the difference in hematocrit. We also know very little about the mechanism of cell size in evolution, so this finding is something we can use to gain insight into how animals evolved to increase hemoglobin,” said Joshua Gross, associate professor at the University of Cincinnati, explains how the blind cavefish survive.

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