New research has revealed how the heart is one of the major factors which determine whether a fish lives or dies in Oceanic Dead Zones.
Dr Holly Shiels, a Senior Lecturer in Animal Physiology at The University of Manchester, says the findings may explain why some fish are able to survive harsh environmental conditions better than others.
The research, published with Open Access in the journal Biology Letters, may help in the battle to understand why fish stocks dwindle in polluted marine environments with low oxygen levels – known as hypoxia.
Hypoxia, says Dr Shiels, is a growing problem in coastal environments, and is likely have enduring impacts on aquatic ecosystems and the fish that live within them.
There are over 400 so called “Dead zones” worldwide, areas where aquatic life is limited or completely absent largely because there isn’t enough oxygen to support it.
Based on our paper:
Joyce W, Ozolina K, Mauduit F, Ollivier H, Claireaux G & Shiels HA (2015) Individual variation in whole animal hypoxia tolerance is associated with cardiac hypoxia tolerance in a marine teleost. Biology Letters 12, 20150708. link press release