Alcohol helps fish survive the harsh winter

Nature is full of amazing phenomena. In the process of evolution, living organisms have learned to get up such tricks that even scientists who have seen scientists are still surprised. Take, for example, goldfish (Carassius auratus) and goldfish (Carassius carassius). When these fish feel that "winter is near," their body is saturated with ethyl alcohol. Norwegian scientists found that it is the increased alcohol content in fish bodies that does not allow the thin cell membranes to break even when they are frozen for a long time, waiting for warming.

Goldfish and carp are really able to suspend almost all life processes, when necessary, and fall into a state of suspended animation. It was not a secret for anybody that these fish freeze into ice and thus survive the winter at a temperature below zero. Ethanol in their bodies is produced with the help of special proteins that convert lactic acid into alcohol. Such an unusual protective mechanism is activated only when the fish have no access to oxygen. The longer a goldfish spends in an oxygen-free ice environment, the more lactic acid it produces and, as a consequence, ethanol.

Ethanol serves as a kind of antifreeze for frozen fish, and lactic acid, which is produced by the body in the absence of oxygen and, as a rule, kills it, in the course of evolution came to the fish to help, turning into a source of saving alcohol. Of course, this process can not endlessly, and the fish will still perish if suddenly winter is excessively prolonged. However, in most cases, the fish still reach the spring and come to their senses after the "ice brew". Scientists from the university in the Norwegian city of Oslo have published the results of their research in the journal Nature .

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/research-development/alkogol-pomogaet-rybam-perezhit-surovuyu-zimu.html.