Can a goldfish live after being put in the freezer?

Question

My husband and I have a bet going...

Answer 1

No. There are fish that can survive freezing, but this is because their bodies produce glycoproteins which effectively act as an anti-freeze and keep the ice crystals from harming the cellular structure of the fish. Goldfish does not contain these, so while they can easily survive near freezing temperatures, they won't survive an actual freeze - the ice crystals will destroy the cells of the fish. It might be able to survive a quick freeze though - you'd be surprised.

This question can not be answered with the response of 'could you survive it?' Goldfish are entirely different creatures then us and can survive many things that would kill us. Comparing a mammal to a fish just won't cut it.

Answer 2

No, freezing kills a fish. Goldfish can actually live (until spring) under the ice in a pond with a frozen surface, but if the water freezes all the way to the bottom, the fish die. Besides the problem of reversing death, freezing would make many of the cell walls burst, which would make any resurrection problematic. You may have heard of "cryonic suspension," where people have their bodies frozen in lquid nitrogen in the hope that at some point in the future, a technology (not invented yet) will exist to thaw them out and revive them. A number of people have arranged to have their remains frozen for this purpose, but as of now, none have been brought back to life, and it seems unlikely in the extreme that this will ever be possible. Besides all the problems of freezing and thawing, most people are not in good shape when they die, to put it mildly, which doesn't give future doctors a lot to work with.

Answer 3

Now, Im not sure about whether putting them in a freezer would be a good bet. I can tell you this however, i've a 400gl tank with what started out as feeders/comets no bigger than your pinkie. They are now about six to ten inches long.

Now, for the past 5 yrs, these goldfish have sustained temps from below 20 to 3 degrees. The tank's uppermost water will freeze to approx 3 inches. The fishs' metabolism seems to slow down as they bunker down beneath the leaf 'garbage'. Once the top ice has thawed or is thin enough to chip a hole in, we then feed them using cans of either mackerel or salmon or even sardines. You'd be surprised at just how much these guys enjoy this type of food compared to store packaged stuff.

I do not suggest that you freeze these fellas....you most likely will end up with fish appetizers.

Lastly...for those why just cannot believe the concept of fish eating fish....my response to that is 'DUH'! :-)

Answer 4

No. Could you come back to life after every cell in your body had been frozen? A goldfish, while different from you, is still a living animal with the same basic structure of skin, brain, heart, nerves, veins, etc. Freezing is freezing. It kills. That said, just like in a human who has been in very cold water and has entered a state of hypothermia and appears to be dead, could come back to life and so could a fish. But the difference is, no significant cells have been destroyed by freezing. If you freeze off a finger, you can live. If your brain freezes, you cannot. It depends on how severely the body has been frozen.

Answer 5

There is only one animal known to man that can freeze solid and come back to life and that is a wood frog.

Some turtles can semi freeze,
Fish CANNOT freeze and come back to life. Just like humans, fish cannot produce high alcohol or glucose levels in the blood. Ice crystals form in and around cell and organ tissue destroying it. Wood frogs can actually freeze solid by producing these chemicals in their blood protecting them from ice crystal formation.

This is why humans cannot be frozen and brought back to life when cures for diseases have been found.

Answer 6

Not in a freezer. thats like saying could u live in a cup of water in a freezer. no. if you have liquid nitrogen though it would freeze fast and has a 70 persent chance of not dieing.

Answer 7

I have heard stories of people trying to euthanize a fish that way (which is inhumane BTW) and after the water is all frozen they take it out to thaw to get the fish out and when it's un frozen the fish is alive and swimming again. Whether the stories are true or not I'm not sure, they could be but maybe the fish wasn't frozen as much as they thought.

Answer 8

don't know about fish, but grasshoppers sure do. My kids threw one in my freezer when I went to clean it way later, not knowing it was there, it defrosted and started jumping all over the place. That's a sure bet.

Answer 9

This is really obvious..... If only the tank top freezes over, it'll live. If it is before the goldfish gets frozen solid, yes, it will live. After it gets frozen, it will die.

Answer 10

A live fish will die in the freezer. it can't breathe and it gets too cold. It won't rot away. It's just like any other frozen fish or food that you freeze.