Now, compare the gills of the white-blooded icefish,
Chaenocephalus aceratus to the red-blooded
Notothenia coriiceps: the gills of the icefish look white! Icefish do not have red-blood cells and do not make the oxygen binding protein hemoglobin that is the protein responsible for giving blood its characteristic red color. Hemoglobin binds oxygen and transports it through the body to the tissues that need it for aerobic metabolism. Because icefish lack hemoglobin they carry only a fraction of the oxygen (~10%) a red-blooded fish carries. All the oxygen in the blood is dissolved in plasma, which is the fluid part of blood that is composed of water, proteins, small molecules and ions.
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| Icefish Chaeocephalus aceratus |
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| Red-blooded Notothenia coriiceps |
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| The gills of the icefish C. aceratus appear white because the blood lacks hemoglobin-containing red blood cells. |
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| The gills of the red-blooded fish N. coriiceps are red because this fish species has red blood cells that contain the oxygen binding protein hemoglobin. |
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