The world's first known warm-blooded fish was found

Since elementary school, Our teachers always taught that birds and mammals are warm-blooded animals, whereas fish, reptiles, and amphibians are cold-blooded animals.

However, the findings published in the journal Science on Thursday, May 14, 2015 will change all. Nicholas Wagner, a biologist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center has found the first known warm-blooded fish in the world, namely Opah (Lampris guttatus).

The Opah (Lampris guttatus). (Picture from: http://bit.ly/1TCZxOP)

Warm-blooded animal is an animal that is able to regulate their body temperature by internal mechanisms. There is also the so-called cold-blooded animals whose the body temperature is always changing in accordance with their environment and adapt to temperature with the behavior.

Sharks and tuna are examples of cold-blooded animals. Two fish can dive in depth and cold temperatures, but in a certain period should be returned to the surface to protect the vital organs such as the heart.

In the study, Wagner and colleagues mark a number of opah that live off the coast of California. They track the movement of opah, reading body temperature, as well as the temperature and the depth of their moving place.

Wagner reveals the fact that the fish are sometimes called "moon fish" it has a stable body temperature. Their temperature is about 7-9 degrees Celsius higher than the environment. This fish type maintain its body temperature by moving constantly their chest fins.

"By being endoderm, opah do not need to move to the surface to simply warm their body and can remain at depth close to food sources," said Wagner, as quoted by Al-Jazeera America.

Opah is a pelagic fish that has an average weight of 90 kilograms. The fish body has the equivalent size of a car tire and oval. The fish types which was spending their life at a depth of 50-300 meters in the ocean to hunt squid. And the Opah grow to over 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length and can weigh over 150 pounds (70 kg).

According to Owyn Snodgrass of NOAA, opah also can maintain the temperature due to the unique structure of the gills that allow blood to leave the organ warmed before it spread to the entire body. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SCI-NEWS]

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