From cavefish to humans: Evolution of metabolism in cavefish may provide insight into treatments for a host of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke
New research from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research examines how cavefish, surface-dwelling river fish that flooded into underground cave systems over 100,000 years ago, developed unique metabolic adaptations to survive in nutrient-scarce environments. The study, published online in Nature Genetics on May 12, 2022, led by Jaya Krishnan, PhD, a senior research associate in […]
How do blind cavefish survive their low-oxygen environment? Remarkable fish have a hidden evolutionary adaptation — big red blood cells
Cavefish have obvious adaptations such as missing eyes and pale colors that demonstrate how they evolved over millennia in a dark, subterranean world. Now researchers at the University of Cincinnati say these incredible fish have an equally remarkable physiology that helps them cope with a low-oxygen environment that would kill other species. Biologists in UC’s […]