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Marine Biology

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The University of Maine

2003

Toadfish

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Is Hemoglobin Gelation An Adaptation To The Cold In Boreal Fishes?, Ione Hunt Von Herbing Feb 2003

Is Hemoglobin Gelation An Adaptation To The Cold In Boreal Fishes?, Ione Hunt Von Herbing

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Recent studies of fish red blood cells found that a regular paracrystalline array of hemoglobin (Hb) tetamers formed under low oxygen conditions in 2 species of boreal fishes, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and toadfish, (Opsanus tau). This phenomenon is termed hemoglobin gelation and its physiological characteristics and importance to survival of boreal fishes is unknown. The study outlined in this proposal will obtain preliminary data on the frequency and physiological nature of the phenomenon of hemoglobin (Hb) gelation in red blood cells of fishes that inhabit cold-water temperate and Arctic environments. The present study will test the hypothesis that hemoglobin …