There is a special type of creature in nature called extremophiles. They differ from all other animals in that they are able to survive in extreme conditions, for example, in extremely hot places or very salty waters. Scientists have found that there are also creatures in the world that almost do not need oxygen - oddly enough, these are some species of fish found in the Gulf of California by members of the MBARI Research Institute. Scientists still cannot understand how they are able to live without oxygen, but they have some guesses.
The water in which especially tenacious fish were found contained much less oxygen than is necessary for the life of other aquatic inhabitants. Previously, it was believed that fish are not able to live in "dead water", as oxygen plays an important role in their metabolism. Apparently, the organisms of the discovered representatives of the underwater world are built in a completely different way.
Among them were the erroneous Cherublemma emmelas, the California great-headed shark, and the bat. The researchers speculate that their ability to survive in extreme conditions is due to enlarged gills. It is also believed that they have a slow metabolism associated with their small bodies - their length does not exceed 30 cm, so in comparison with them their gills seem huge.
Each type of extremophile has its own name, for example, animals with easy tolerance to high temperatures are called hyperthermophiles, and the inhabitants of especially salty waters are called halophiles. The organisms, whose life practically does not depend on the availability of oxygen, met scientists for the first time, and they have not yet come up with a name for them. At the moment, they want to call them ligooxyphiles, which in Latin means "little oxygen lovers".
Ramis Ganiev
