Henneguya Zschokkei Needs No Oxygen

In 2020, scientists discovered that the salmon parasite Henneguya zschokkei, also known as Henneguya salminicola, does not rely on oxygen for respiration. It lacks a mitochondrial genome, which means it has lost the machinery animals normally use for aerobic respiration. Researchers found it living inside salmon tissue, where oxygen levels can be low. The discovery made it one of the very few known multicellular animals with an exclusively anaerobic metabolism, though exactly how it produces energy remains unclear.

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