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First published online August 6, 2004
Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 3131-3139 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
doi: 10.1242/jeb.00979

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Review Article

Hypoxic survival strategies in two fishes: extreme anoxia tolerance in the North European crucian carp and natural hypoxic preconditioning in a coral-reef shark

Göran E. Nilsson^1,* and Gillian M. C. Renshaw²

¹ Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1041, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway
² School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Griffith University, PMB 50 Gold Coast, Queensland 9726, Australia

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: g.e.nilsson{at}bio.uio.no)

Accepted 12 March 2004

Especially in aquatic habitats, hypoxia can be an important evolutionary driving force resulting in both convergent and divergent physiological strategies for hypoxic survival. Examining adaptations to anoxic/hypoxic survival in hypoxia-tolerant animals may offer fresh ideas for the treatment of hypoxia-related diseases. Here, we summarise our present knowledge of two fishes that have evolved to survive hypoxia under very different circumstances.

The crucian carp (Carassius carassius) is of particular interest because of its extreme anoxia tolerance. During the long North European winter, it survives for months in completely oxygen-deprived freshwater habitats. The crucian carp also tolerates a few days of anoxia at room temperature and, unlike anoxia-tolerant freshwater turtles, it is still physically active in anoxia. Moreover, the crucian carp does not appear to reduce neuronal ion permeability during anoxia and may primarily rely on more subtle neuromodulatory mechanisms for anoxic metabolic depression.

The epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) is a tropical marine vertebrate. It lives on shallow reef platforms that repeatedly become cut off from the ocean during periods of low tides. During nocturnal low tides, the water [O₂] can fall by 80% due to respiration of the coral and associated organisms. Since the tides become lower and lower over a period of a few days, the hypoxic exposure during subsequent low tides will become progressively longer and more severe. Thus, this shark is under a natural hypoxic preconditioning regimen. Interestingly, hypoxic preconditioning lowers its metabolic rate and its critical P_O2. Moreover, repeated anoxia appears to stimulate metabolic depression in an adenosine-dependent way.

Key words: anoxia, hypoxia, ischemia, Carassius, Hemiscyllium, coral reef, GABA, glutamate

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