China Plans to Bring Zebrafish to Space

The report said the zebrafish will be sent to China's Tiangong space station. Zebrafish is a significant species for testing, scientific and medical research.

According to AZ Animals, the zebrafish is Danio rerio, which can be seen in freshwater areas and aquariums.

Zebrafish can quickly repopulate in grow by laying hundreds of eggs. With many species, the zebrafish has horizontal stripes, the same as zebras.

Furthermore, the National Institute of Health (NHI) said that zebrafish have been helpful for medical research and widely used because they can quickly repopulate.

Meanwhile, E-Life Sciences explained that the fish are omnivores that feed on insects, zooplankton, and larva.

Zebrafish to send to China's space station

(Photo : by ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)
Zebrafish. China is planning to send zebrafish to the space, helping experts to study bone loss in astronauts. Zebrafish have been used for medical research and testing.

With the potential contribution to medical research, recent reports said that China is expected to send the zebrafish to their space station.

According to Space.com and Global Times reports, the zebrafish plan would help study bone loss in astronauts.

The report explained that the same species was sent to a space station in 1945. However, the fish eventually died.

According to Zhang Wei, the zebrafish would be vital to look into fish interaction and microorganisms in small systems.

Wei is also the commander-in-chief's assistant, China Manned Space Engineering Space Application System.

The report said that the zebrafish would be placed in a closed aquarium with microorganisms to unlock the possible interactions among the said species in the space.

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Other animals that went into space

Fish is not the only one that managed to fly in space. Many tried to bring animals into space. Here are some of the animals, according to Discover Wildlife.

Fish -mummichog and medaka

According to the reports, astronauts brought medaka and mummichog to space.

The first fish from the Japanese space agency brought the fish to the space to determine the radiation impact.
Meanwhile, the mummichog from NASA looked into the impact of gravity on animals in 1973.

Monkeys

According to the Royal Museum Greenwich, about 32 monkeys managed to fly into space. In 1949, the report said that the first monkey went to space but later on died when the parachute did not work.

Dogs

Dogs are also sent to space. Based on Discover Wildlife, Laika (1957) was one of the popular dogs that went to space. It was known as a Samoyed terrier in Moscow.

The dog had the orbital spacelight on Earth while on the Sputnik 2. The Royal Museum Greenwich explained that the experts in 1975 said that homeless Laika would be ideal to space, enduring the unfamiliar space conditions.

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Did you know?

According to AZ Animals, zebrafish can repopulate in significant numbers. However, female zebrafish can eat their baby fish due to a lack of parental instincts.