Frozen Fish Survive!
- Thread starter fishboy7
- Start date
Sure, hardy fish can survive total freeze but it's not guaranteed (yes I've seen research on this, just use google). The amount of time doesn't really matter much. Having half live sounds about right, try to get them inside next year or dig it down another foot.
The problem with being frozen is when cells freeze the cell walls are destroyed by the forming ice crystals. Scientists still dont understand how some animals, the NZ cricket for example, can survive being frozen, without suffering cell damage.
No it actually freezes. The idea is actually simple, the cells deflate themselves. That way they don't get ruptured from the expansion that happens when water becomes ice. The specifics are more daunting. The brine shrimp goes into cryostasis which allows its eggs to survive absolutely no water, or in a vacuum, or temperatures of absolute zero. Making it pretty easy to ship them. It is interesting read on wikipedia.
Years ago I had one of those hard shell pond inserts. I left it above ground. The kids put their carnival goldfish in it. I didn't know how many they put in and I didn't get it torn down before winter rolled around. We live in Western New York. Some days it gets very cold -5 to -10 degrees F. It froze solid. It was 1.5 feet deep. There is no question on whether it froze solid or not. No rocks or mud for the fish to hide in. The girls asked me how their fish could swim in ice. When the pond started to thaw, we saw dead fish. When the ice was all gone, there was two fish swimming around, and a frog. The frog could have been a new occupant, but the fish weren't. They survived the long winter in the ice. I don't know how they survived, but they did. There is no way that pond did not freeze solid in a Western New York winter. Every year since, I've removed the fish and they have done great. The one was 12" when a raccoon finally got him last year.
Very interesting about the frogs. An amazing way around the problem. But notice that they can only survive down to a certain temp though. Because the only thing that actually freezes is the water between the cells, not inside the cells. Sickbum I'd like you to post some evidence about fish surviving having their tissue frozen. Here's some that says you're wrong:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_blackfish
