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Delayed onset of adult antifreeze activity in juveniles of the Antarctic icefish Chaenocephalus aceratus

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Abstract

Many Antarctic notothenioid species endemic to the Seasonal Pack-ice Zone have converged on adult blood serum freezing points that are several tenths of a degree above the freezing point of seawater. While these fishes share high adult serum freezing points, the development of their freeze avoidance during ontogeny has not been studied. We investigated this in wild caught juveniles of one such species, Chaenocephalus aceratus (family Channichthyidae), using blood serum antifreeze activity as a proxy for their freeze avoidance. Juvenile serum antifreeze activity was significantly below that of adults through the oldest year 2+ specimens collected. This increased at an estimated rate of 0.368 × 10−3 ± 0.405 × 10−4°C day−1 which, if sustained, would leave C. aceratus below their adult serum antifreeze activity levels of 0.57 ± 0.08°C until 4.2 years after hatching. Underlying the 2.7-fold increase in their serum antifreeze activity from late year 0+ juveniles to adults was an even greater 10.4-fold increase in the concentration of their serum antifreeze glycopeptides, which increased proportionally across all of their serum AFGP size isoforms. With insufficient antifreeze activity to avoid freezing in the ice-laden surface waters, both adult and juvenile C. aceratus are most likely restricted to the year round ice-free waters where a metastable supercooled state can be maintained.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the crew of the R/V. L.M. Gould and the Raytheon Polar Services Corporation technicians for their assistance in collecting and maintaining specimens. This research was funded by the US National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs Grant NSF OPP-Ant-0231006 to A. L. DeVries and C.-H. C. Cheng. Additional funding for this research came from the Francis M. and Harlie M. Clark Research Support Grant and the Department of Animal Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to K.T. Bilyk. All experiments performed during this study conform with the current laws of the USA.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Department of Animal Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 515 Morrill Hall, 505 South Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Kevin T. Bilyk & Arthur L. DeVries

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  1. Kevin T. Bilyk
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  2. Arthur L. DeVries
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Correspondence to Kevin T. Bilyk.

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Bilyk, K.T., DeVries, A.L. Delayed onset of adult antifreeze activity in juveniles of the Antarctic icefish Chaenocephalus aceratus . Polar Biol 33, 1387–1397 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-010-0828-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-010-0828-6

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