Bloodbred pedigree, history of discovery, features of appearance, basic tips for keeping ice fish in an aquarium. Now the time has come when entering the house or apartment of your friend or acquaintance, you no longer know at all who you can meet there and where this someone came from. Sometimes people, in pursuit of a goal, will stand out from the surrounding gray mass, or in order to emphasize their impeccable and original taste, they can make very unusual actions, decisions and purchases. This may consist in new fashionable shoes, items of clothing in which, going out into the street, you can immediately become the object of everyone's attention, sometimes not entirely approving. But in this matter for a person it is not the main thing to be admired - the main thing is to be different from everyone else or to have something that others do not have.
But when it comes to style in clothes, expensive jewelry, the interior of an apartment or a supernova and ultra-fashionable mobile phone - one thing, but there are those among people who are not enough to be special outwardly, they also acquire special friends from the big animal kingdom. Whoever is not possible to meet in a particular house: raccoons, hedgehogs, a wide variety of reptiles, snakes and even tigers and hippos. Yes, this is the whole list of modern pets and this is not the whole list. Sometimes, when a person chooses which animal to bring to his house, he is not always guided by common sense and his tastes and preferences, most often it all depends on his financial situation, which in itself cannot but upset. It’s very offensive when animals, accustomed to living in freedom, become a means of emphasizing their financial position or status in society.
This judgment, of course, does not apply to everyone, because there are people who have dreamed of a monkey or a lemur all their lives and did everything possible so that their cherished four-legged friend appeared in their house.
But not all are fierce fans of large shaggy animals or snakes, there are people who are very fond of aquariums. This large, beautiful container, inhabited by a wide variety of living creatures, originating from the sea and ocean depths, simply cannot leave anyone indifferent. Probably, there is no such person on our planet who, in a restaurant, in an office or at someone's home, having seen floating fish in an aquarium, would have been able to pass by.
An interior item such as an aquarium, and no matter what size it is, is always very appropriate in any room. Looking at it and its inhabitants, one can involuntarily catch oneself thinking that the whole world around has stopped for a while and is in standby mode. Expectations when the contemplator of this wonderful structure will fully enjoy the harmony of the water "space", which seems to have superpowers to give a sense of calmness, to put thoughts in order, and simply to cheer up.
If you decide to put such a house with fish in your house, but you don't know who is so special and unique to inhabit it. It is worth paying attention to such a specimen as an ice fish. Perhaps you know her from the pages of encyclopedias, the Internet, and, perhaps, as sad as it may sound, most often her name can be found on the pages of the menus of expensive elite restaurants.
To date, people have begun to increasingly plant it in the house, as an ordinary aquarium fish, this is a really beautiful living creature, and besides, by allocating a place for it in the home "water house", you save this living beauty from the ocean waters from the hands poachers and knives and chefs' pans.
Where is the icefish found, its origins
The pike-like whitebird, the common white-blooded pike or the common icefish - all of these names hide the same living creature.
Champsocephalus gunnari is a representative of a large animal kingdom, which a zoologist, a native of Sweden, attributed to the chordate type, the ray-finned fish class, the perch-like order, the pike-winged whitefish genus and the white-blooded fish family in 1905.
The natural habitat of this white-blooded fish is the great depths of Antarctica, as some sources say, this pike plows the ocean waters at a depth of about 400-700 m from the surface of the water.
Ice pike discovery history and interesting facts
In the distant ??? century, the whaling industry was a very popular and quite effective source of income for the inhabitants of Norway. It was the workers of this craft, who returned home from their next voyage, and told the local residents an amazing story that they allegedly managed to catch an amazing fish, completely unlike all other inhabitants of cold waters. Its uniqueness, according to the whalers, lay in the fact that it had white or even completely transparent blood like water, for this physiological feature they called it "icy" or "white-blooded". Many, having heard this seemingly not entirely realistic story, did not betray this story any special meaning, because there was little that could have been invented or what could have been imagined by these hard workers.
Only many, many years later, in 1954, scientists began to carefully study this mysterious fish and discovered the incredible - the Norwegian workers were still right, its blood is not at all red, on the contrary, it is almost transparent with some turbidity or even "nebula". The whole secret of this feature lies in the fact that the hematocrit (volume of blood cells in the blood) of this ice dweller of the ocean is zero, that is, neither erythrocytes nor even the protein hemoglobin are found in its mobile connective fluid, which give the red color of blood to almost all living beings.
“Nobody appreciates what he has here and now” - this expression, perhaps, was once said not at all about food, but in the case of ice fish on the territory of the Soviet Union, it is very useful. The thing is that around 1980, our Motherland had the opportunity to boast of the world's largest ocean-going fishing fleet. The catches and supplies of fish to the USSR broke all records, the mass of the catch per one Soviet resident exceeded almost three times the catches of American and British fishermen. In connection with such a large-scale supply of products from the ocean waters, including ice fish, our people did not pay any special attention to this amazing pike and considered it a lower grade fish. Basically, they pampered their kittens, since a kilogram of such an ordinary product on the market was about 60-70 kopecks. No one was interested in any of the beneficial properties and special taste of the Antarctic whitebird.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the defeat of the Russian fishing fleet gradually crept up, soon ships began to leave the oceans, day after day the repair of old and construction of new ships stopped, and people, step by step, began to leave the previously so profitable and so necessary craft.
It was then that fish with white blood began to be brought to the Russian markets, but already foreign suppliers and already on the fish shelves, a completely different pricing policy reigned. The fluffy favorites of the Russian people no longer had the opportunity to enjoy such a delicacy as the meat of white-blooded fish, and over time, the people themselves could not afford such a luxury. In this non-fish time, they began to think about why this pike-like white woman became so expensive and inaccessible to an ordinary employee. The solution to this secret is very simple and even elementary. It's all about the special taste of this ray-finned fish. Almost every fish every year and even every day of its life cycle absorbs a large number of different elements from the water in which it lives, in other words, with age, the fish organism becomes heavily polluted. Ice fish is an exception to this rule, because the water in the native habitat of this Arctic beauty is one of the cleanest in the world, therefore, the meat of this fish does not contain any harmful substances and compounds. Also, neither the fish itself, nor the ready-made dish from it emits a specific fishy smell inherent in many of its relatives, thanks to this it is so adored by people who do not eat fish products because of the intolerance of this "aroma". In terms of taste, ice pike meat is somewhat reminiscent of shrimp. There is a theory that this is due to the fact that white-blooded fish in their natural habitat also carefully chooses their food and prefers mainly krill for lunch - these are small marine planktonic crustaceans that are very small in size (only 8 to 60 mm).
Still, in no case can one fail to note the fact that the perch-like whitefish is not just a fish, it is just a storehouse of useful vitamins and minerals such as potassium, fluorine, phosphorus and many others. It contains over 17-18% of pure protein, and therefore it is just a godsend for people who are going to go on a diet. There are practically no such elements as magnesium and calcium in its configuration, for this reason its meat is so convenient to eat, in the body of ice fish there is almost no bone tissue.
There are many recipes for preparing a wide variety of world culinary masterpieces, the main ingredient of which is white-blooded pike, but, for example, in the land of the rising sun, it is eaten raw. Treating yourself to icefish in a non-thermally processed form, the possibility of contracting parasites from its raw meat is practically zero, which cannot be said about salmon or trout.
Description of the appearance of icefish
A simple white-blooded pike is one of those rare representatives of the animal world of the planet, which are not only tasty and extremely useful, but also received a very extraordinary appearance from nature. Perhaps few people had such an opportunity to see this cute creation of nature alive, but at least not frozen. Indeed, today, almost the only meeting place with ice fish is the fish showcases of supermarkets, fish shops and occasionally vegetable markets, where it quietly waits for its consumer, wrapped in a thick layer of snow and ice from the freezer.
But, if you had the opportunity to see this beauty actively floating around the aquarium, you will be amazed at the elegance and grandeur of its outer shell.
The body parameters of an adult individual can be different, depending on the amount of food in the habitat of a particular icefish, as well as on the state of its physical health. The average body length of this perch-like inhabitant of Antarctic waters ranges from 30 to 80 cm, the body weight range varies from 200 to 1200 grams.
The body of the white-blooded fish is naked, absolutely not covered with scales. Looking at it intently, one gets the impression that it is completely transparent and through the body of an ice fish you can see the world around you, but this is not so, due to the fact that there are no red blood cells in the blood, then the skin does not have a peculiar "fish blush" therefore, the shine on the light body of the fish creates such an amazing effect. The fabulous body of the inhabitant of the cold ocean waters is decorated with wide stripes that are placed transversely and painted in dark shades. Also, on the body of this ray-finned pike, you can easily notice lateral longitudinal lines, most often there are two or three of them.
The head of the ice fish in relation to the size of the entire body is very large, somewhat oblong in shape and, as it were, slightly flattened in the upper part. The mouth and large jaws in their morphological structure are very reminiscent of the pike, from which, in all likelihood, one of the names of the ice fish, which is sometimes also called the sea pike, originated, which is not at all true, because this name is borne by representatives of a completely different fish family.
Keeping icefish in a home aquarium
In the event that you had a happy opportunity to see this wonderful fish swimming in someone's aquarium and you have an irresistible desire to contemplate such a fabulous creation of nature in your home, we can say that in our modern era, nothing is simply impossible. And to acquire such a rare and not quite familiar pet is still absolutely real. You just need to seriously start looking for such a person who sells wonderful white-breeds not only to supermarkets and restaurant-type establishments, but also to lovers of exotic home pupils.
Getting your pet ice pike to feel quite comfortable and cozy in your home will take a little work and, of course, fork out.
First you need to think about where she will live. Like all other fish for their habitation in apartments, it needs an aquarium filled with water, only when choosing glass housing for such an original oceanic specimen, do not forget that it is tens of times larger in size by all the well-known and beloved colorful aquarium fish, such as guppies, mollies, catfish corridors, thorns and many other miniature "animals" covered with scales. For this reason, for an ordinary whitebird, you need to choose a dwelling of such dimensions, where it would not only fit, but also could freely swim in its possessions.
If you decide that you need an aquarium with ice fish, then it is better that this is her personal apartment, it cannot be said that it poses a threat to the life of other species of fish, but the conditions in which she is used to living are already a completely different matter. After all, the optimal water temperature for a white-blooded fish is 2-7 degrees, which not every living creature can withstand. Perhaps, after some time, you will be able to accustom this lover of cold weather to more acceptable temperature conditions, but this must be done by gradually increasing the heat indicators of the water by 1-2 degrees, but initially run it in climatic conditions that are more familiar to her.
It is very difficult to achieve such low thermometer readings in an aquarium; for this, specialized pet stores have the opportunity to purchase special cooling devices for home aquariums. On the pages of the Internet there is a lot of information about how to design such devices with your own hands without much money. But this is suitable if a person needs to lower the temperature by a few degrees, and in your situation, you need the water to be very cold, moreover, so that this temperature is maintained at a constant level.
One cannot ignore the fact that icefish in their natural environment have chosen the purest waters for their habitat. Therefore, at home, your fish should always be in clean water, because no one knows how its aesthetic body will react to various pollution.
Also in the ocean, the white woman prefers to eat a kind of delicacies in the form of krill, so for the first time it is better to find her favorite dish, but after some time after adapting the fish to the conditions of the aquarium, you can also try to treat her with regular fish food.
