Huge nursery for icefish discovered beneath Weddell Sea in Antarctica - Livescience.com

They found 60 million icefish nests.

Scientists onboard an icebreaker in Antarctica were blown away when they spied a trove of 60 million icefish nests dotting the floor of the Weddell Sea.

The nests were modest bowls carved in the mud on the seafloor by notothenioid icefish (Neopagetopsis ionah), which are native to the chilly southern oceans.

Icefish tend to nest in groups, but "the most ever seen before was forty nests or something like that," said Purser.

"We've never seen anything like this," Purser added. .

Inside the upwelling column of water, they found microscopic zooplankton near the surface, where young icefish, after hatching, swim to feast on the floating buffet before returning to the seafloor to breed.

Because of the food, the presence of icefish in the upwelling was to be expected.

In addition to living fish guarding nests, the team found that the area was littered with fish carcasses as well, suggesting that this massive icefish colony is an integral part of the local ecosystem, most likely serving as prey for Weddell seals. .

"[The colony] went from very, very dense to nothing, much like penguin colonies," said Purser.

Originally published on Live Science

Cameron is a contributing writer covering life sciences for Live Science

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