February 19, 2020
Source:
University of California – Irvine
Summary:
A secret to survival amid rising global temperatures could be dwelling in the tidepools of the US West Coast. Biologists studying the genome of an unusual fish residing in those waters offer new possibilities for humans to obtain dietary protein as climate change imperils traditional sources.
A secret to survival amid rising global temperatures could be dwelling in the tidepools of the U.S. West Coast. Findings by University of California, Irvine biologists studying the genome of an unusual fish residing in those waters offer new possibilities for humans to obtain dietary protein as climate change imperils traditional sources. Their paper appears in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The fish, Cebidichthys violaceus, is colloquially known as the monkeyface prickleback. With an acidic stomach and small and large intestines, it has a digestive system similar to that of humans. The monkeyface prickleback is among just five percent of the 30-thousand fish species that are vegetarian, nourishing themselves only with the specialized algae in the tidepools where they live. [READ MORE: ScienceDaily]