The secret to staying young may be swimming with the fishes.

The African turquoise killifish offers insight into the potential to prevent aging in humans, according to research published Friday in the journal Science.

Through a process known as diapause, killifish are able to suspend their development while in embryo form, allowing them to better adjust to seasonal pressures and environmental changes. The killifish can pause its growth for years at a time this way, despite only having an adult lifetime of about six months.

The fish employ a unique mechanism to help them stay youthful, which involves slowing cell and organ growth. Another key player is a protein called CBX7, study co-author and Stanford professor Anne Brunet tells the Guardian.

Now that they know more about the mechanisms behind the anti-aging tricks, scientists may be able to apply the same mechanisms to people. The concept is still in the speculation phase, but their team wouldn’t be the first to try: A separate article notes that researchers previously tried this with the roundworm, the larvae of which also has the ability for diapause.

“We think it’s interesting from a fundamental point of view to understand how the accumulation of the damage due to the passage of time can be stopped or suspended. Diapause offers us a way to understand this,” says Brunet.