I guess this would explain their three-second memory spans, if that wasn't a complete myth.
Scientists have decoded the secrets behind a goldfish's ability to survive in ice-covered lakes. They've worked out how and why the fish turn lactic acid in their bodies into alcohol, as a means of staying alive. Some goldfish were found to have levels well above legal drink-driving limits in many countries.
Thank goodness they don't know how to drive, then.
In most animals there is a single set of proteins that channel carbohydrates towards the mitochondria, which are the power packs of cells. In the absence of oxygen, the consumption of carbohydrates generates lactic acid, which the goldfish can't get rid of and which kills them in minutes.
Luckily, these fish have evolved a second set of proteins that take over in the absence of oxygen and convert the lactic acid to alcohol, which can then be dispersed through the gills. "The second pathway is only activated through lack of oxygen," author Dr Michael Berenbrink from the University of Liverpool, UK, told BBC News.
"The ice cover closes them off from the air, so when the pond is ice-covered the fish consumes all the oxygen and then it switches over to the alcohol." The longer they are in freezing, airless conditions the higher the alcohol levels in the fish become. "If you measure them in the field the blood alcohol goes up above 50mg per 100 millilitres, which is the drink-drive limit in Scotland and northern European countries," said Dr Berenbrink. "So they are really 'under the influence'."
They may not know how to drive, but they sure know how to live !
Scientists have also calculated for fun, how long it would take to produce an alcoholic drink from the fish excretions. "If you put them in a beer glass and closed them off, it would take 200 days to get it up to 4%," said Dr Berenbrink. "In nature, it just would not happen."
By next year that'll have replaced the avocado smoothie as the drink of choice for all self-respecting hipsters, I guarantee it.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40899192
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