‘Nothing but fish nests’: huge icefish colony found in Antarctic sea

‘Nothing but fish nests’: huge icefish colony found in Antarctic sea

By Mabel Banfield-Nwachi

Source: theguardian

1/13/2022

Credit: Alfred Wegener Institute

Researchers exploring Antarctica’s seabed have discovered a thriving, unprecedented colony of icefish “about a third of the size of London”.

The surprise discovery of about 60 million active nests was made by a team of biologists while collecting routine data at 1.5-2.5 metres above the seafloor of Antarctica’s southern Weddell Sea. Before this discovery, the largest found colony contained only 60 nests.

“We expected to see the normal Antarctic seafloor … [but] during the first four hours of our dive, we saw nothing but fish nests,” said Autun Purser, of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, and lead author of the study published in Current Biology.

The ecosystem was found by accident using the ocean floor observation and bathymetry system, a large, towed camera device that records photos, videos and takes measurements of deep-sea habitats.

Researchers were initially interested in the area because of a process called upwelling, in which wind and currents bring cold water to the surface, causing the water to be 2C warmer than the surrounding area.

Purser suggested the fish may use this warmer water as a navigational tool to help track the colony. “When they feel like reproducing, they look for this warmer water and reproduce there,” he said.

Continue...

News Id		Source	Stamp	country
326	Federal Infrastructure Funding Is Fueling a Push to Remove Dams	Associated Press	2024-08-07	US
327	Year of the Coho keeps rolling, summer patterns hold inland	chicago.suntimes	2024-08-06	US
328	FWP lifts fishing restrictions on North Fork Flathead	dailymontanan	2024-08-06	US
329	Drugs in the Hudson River? Scientists say river is flush with pharmaceuticals	lohud	2018-02-21	US
330	Riverkeeper plans to sue NY over killing of sturgeon by commercial fishing	lohud	2024-07-20	US
331	Hawaii fishermen and scientists team up tagging ahi tuna	nationalfisherman	2024-07-23	US
332	Every fish in B.C.s Emerald Lake may have to be killed	CBC News	2024-07-22	CA
333	Puffer fish cause over $2.17 million in annual damage to economy	hurriyetdailynews	2024-07-26	TR
334	Peruvian bills could imperil marine biodiversity and artisanal fishing	mongabay	2024-07-26	PE
335	Chris Packham slams cruel eBay sellers posting live fish in fizzy drink bottles	dailymail	2024-07-26	UK
336	Maryland fisherman thinks Northern Snakehead not as dangerous to ecosystem as believed	wbaltv	2024-07-24	US
337	British angler catches the world's biggest GOLDFISH	dailymail	2024-07-26	UK
338	Indigenous communities catch lamprey at Willamette Falls every summer	OPB	2024-08-05	CA
339	Giant Fish Weighing Over 1.5 Ton Caught by Machilipatnam Fishermen	thehansindia	2024-07-28	IN
340	Experts advocate for consuming invasive fish species threatening local ecosystems	yahoo	2024-07-13	PH
341	Swim with the fishes: is tuna tourism just a bit of harmless holiday fun?	headtopics	2024-07-17	AU
342	Illegal fisherman caught hiding salmon up sleeve	BBC News	2024-07-18	UK
343	How local fishermen found a group of blackfin tuna while fishing	yahoo	2024-07-21	US
344	Thailand waters invaded by alien fish from Africa	wionews	2024-07-14	TN
345	New England fishermen sentenced in complex herring fraud case	The Associated Press	2024-07-15	US
346	7-year-old reels in record-breaking catfish at Mississippi lake	supertalk	2024-07-15	US
347	Upstate NY fisherman breaks record for species considered a living dinosaur	Rochester Democrat and Chronicle	2024-07-15	US
348	Return of Kiwi super-trawler sparks concerns for orange roughy population	Pulse Tasmania	2024-07-17	AU
349	Mild winter trims ice fishing pressure on Lake of the Woods	echopress	2024-08-02	US
350	How Yemenis catch fish with scrap reefs using plastic and tires	interestingengineering	2024-07-19	YE