Scientists have stumbled upon the largest known nesting ground for icefish in the Antarctic's Weddell Sea.
Boehringer’s team was in the Weddell Sea to study ocean currents and carbon cycles. Instead, the researchers stumbled upon the largest fish nursery on record. Previously, the biggest colony in the books was only 60 nests strong,reports. But this new nesting site blows the last record out of the water, with 60 million active nests sprawling across an area about twice the size of San Francisco.
. Purser also witnessed the spectacular camera feed when he joined Boehringer later on that February night. “After that dive, we emailed the experts on shore who know about fish like this. They said, yep, this is pretty unique.”Before the discovery of nests galore, the icefish itself had long piqued scientific interests when an individual was first caught by a Norwegian zoologist a century ago. Researchers were quick to notice the Channichthyidae family’s physiological marvels.
This modern and revamped icefish shed many of the features that we know of from fish, simply because they were unnecessary—dangerous even—for its lifestyle. Cold water contains more dissolved gases than warm water, so the lack of scales allows the icefish to absorb oxygen from the ocean directly through its skin.
Beneath the Weddell Sea where the Polarstern floated, the water is a toasty two degrees Celsius warmer than the surrounding seabed. That might explain why icefish flock to these churning waters—the currents probably favor their foraging habits—to establish the world’s largest known nesting site.