A TEAM of Liverpool scientists have discovered how a fish found in garden ponds across Merseyside could help humans survive a stroke or heart attack.

Professor Andrew Cossins, and his team from the University of Liverpool, came across an unusual finding whilst studying how the carp can survive in cold water with very little oxygen.

They discovered myoglobin, a common protein, in the brain and liver of the carp, while the protein is only usually found in the heart and muscle cells of humans and vertebrate animals.

Better known as the protein which makes muscle tissue red, the team found it across the body of the fish, something which has never been found before.

The unexpected finding could help doctors understand how humans could survive the loss of oxygen to their tissue during a stroke or heart attack.

Prof Cossins said: “This was such an unexpected finding because myoglobin is the world’s most famous protein.

“Up to this point nobody would go looking for it, you expect to find it in muscle tissue, not in the brain or the liver, I never thought I would ever see this.

“I’m really excited because the findings suggest that this protein plays other roles in protecting tissue from low levels of oxygen apart from storing oxygen.