World’s Largest Fish Nesting Ground With 60 Million Nests Discovered Under Antarctic Ice

The unexpected find is way larger than any other known colony of fish nests found so far.

The fact that we know less about the ocean floor than we do about the surface of the Moon doesn’t make this incredible find any less surprising. Five hundred meters below the ice covering the south of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea, a research team recently discovered the world’s largest fish breeding site known to date.

According to a new study published in Current Biology, an estimated 60 million active nests of Jonah’s icefish (Neopagetopsis ionah) stretch across a vast area of at least 240 square kilometers. The discovery was facilitated by a towed camera system led by the German research vessel Polarstern.

Until now, researchers have encountered only a handful of icefish nests at a time, or perhaps several dozen. Even the most gregarious nest-building fish species were previously known to gather only in the hundreds (other such species include the artistically inclined pufferfish, and freshwater cichlids).

Icefish: 60 million nests found in the seafloor near Antartica | New  Scientist

Deep sea biologist Autun Purser of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany, and colleagues stumbled across the massive colony in early 2021 while on a research cruise in the Weddell Sea, which is located between the Antarctic Peninsula and the main continent.

According to their findings, the icefish probably have a substantial and previously unknown influence on Antarctic food webs.

Icefish are special not only due to them being the only known vertebrates that lack red blood cells containing hemoglobin (hence the name white-blooded icefish), but also because they have a protein-based antifreeze in their blood (white in color and nearly see-through, by the way) which makes life for them under the Antarctic ice shelf feasible. So much so, that the nesting ground discovered by the researchers is as big as the Island of Malta, with one breeding site per 3 square meters (32.3 square feet).

Estimates from the Polarstern‘s observations put the number of nests at the nesting ground at around 60 million, demonstrating that the area is a vital one for the species and a marine environment worthy of protection. A proposal to establish a Marine Protected Area here has been under consideration since 2016 by the European Union and the international Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), but unfortunately it hasn’t happened yet.

“The idea that such a huge breeding area of icefish in the Weddell Sea was previously undiscovered is totally fascinating,” said Purser, lead author of the study, in a statement.

Purser’s enthusiastic statement is easy to understand when you realize that the AWI has been researching this particular stretch of the Weddell Sea for the past 40 years, but so far only small clusters of icefish breeding sites were found. So, why exactly here? The team used oceanographic and biological data to establish that the vast breeding site coincided with an inflow of warmer deep water from the Weddell Sea onto the nesting ground shelf.

Since each active nest contains about 1,000-2,000 eggs and there are many adults hanging around to protect them, the biomass of the colony is estimated to weigh around 60,000 tons. It is now wonder, then, that the resource-rich area is also frequented by hungry Weddell seals.

Being the most spatially extensive contiguous fish breeding colony ever recorded on Earth, the nesting site definitely tops the charts for significant breeding sites – a pretty solid argument for the establishment of the marine protected area proposed.

“Considering how little known the Antarctic Weddell Sea is, this underlines all the more the need of international efforts to establish a Marine Protected Area (MPA),” said AWI Director and deep-sea biologist Professor Antje Boetius, who took part in developing non-invasive technology that to allowed the team to observe the ecosystem without disturbing it. “Unfortunately, the Weddell Sea MPA has still not yet been adopted unanimously by CCAMLR. But now that the location of this extraordinary breeding colony is known, Germany and other CCAMLR members should ensure that no fishing and only non-invasive research takes place there in future.”

Met

Related Posts

A tourist encountered an ᴜпfoгtᴜпаte day when confronted by a lovesick, towering elephant. The roar and growl of the engines emphasized the perilous nature of the situation. Would this сoɩoѕѕаɩ elephant cease its advance?

Hendry Blom was one of the somewhat fortunate guests who were not on the truck. He shared his experience and footage of the sighting with us. Scroll…

This can be called the laziest family in the world when they want to cross the river, but think of ѕtгапɡe wауѕ to not get wet.

This family of baboons really wanted to cross the river without getting wet, so they ran and jumped in the funniest of wауѕ to try and stay…

Despite being on tһe Ьгіпk of starvation, the old lion relentlessly ѕtаɩked the elephant mother and her baby for over 24 hours, even after the calf had perished. What compelled the lion to рeгѕіѕt in the fасe of the grieving elephant mother’s ѕᴜffeгіпɡ, ultimately prioritizing its own survival?

The eпсoᴜпteг between the mother elephant and the lion, Kiok, unfolded as a poignant yet stark гemіпdeг of the unyielding laws of nature. For over 24 hours,…

The antelope family falls into a deаd end when there are extremely ѕсагу ргedаtoгѕ on the shore or in the water. But somehow miraculously, they got through without any ɩoѕѕ

A waterbuck narrowly eѕсарed being eаteп alive three times, after being сһаѕed by a pack of wіɩd dogs, ѕпіffed oᴜt by a crocodile, and аttасked by a…

Unbelievable: Mutant Baby Born with Kangaroo Traits and ᴜпіqᴜe Gait сарtᴜгed on Video

Shyyouhe, a breeder from Henan village in Shandong province, China, was astonished when he encountered a ᴜпіqᴜe calf unlike anything he had seen in over a decade…

Cute Rebellion: Young Elephant’s Playful Tantrum саᴜɡһt on South African Road

Charming photographs depict a baby elephant having a tantrum reminiscent of a ѕtᴜЬЬoгп child in South Africa, all the while its mother continues her leisurely stroll along…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *