Little Tiny Fish Live in Acid
The world's smallest vertebrate, a species of carp called Paedocypris progenetica, shown here at a hundred times actual size, lives in an environment about as acidic as lemon juice:
The world's smallest vertebrate, a species of carp called Paedocypris progenetica, shown here at a hundred times actual size, lives in an environment about as acidic as lemon juice:
The tiny, see-through Paedocypris fish have the appearance of larvae and have a reduced head skeleton, which leaves the brain unprotected by bone. They live in dark tea-coloured waters with an acidity of pH3, which is at least 100 times more acidic than rainwater.
'This is one of the strangest fish that I've seen in my whole career', said Ralf Britz, zoologist at the Natural History Museum.
'This is one of the strangest fish that I've seen in my whole career', said Ralf Britz, zoologist at the Natural History Museum.
