Hot off the Press: A vast icefish breeding colony discovered in the Antarctic
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5427-0151, Hehemann, Laura ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0967-8945, Boehringer, Lilian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7322-5145, Tippenhauer, Sandra ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3405-6275, Wege, Mia, Bornemann, Horst, Pineda Metz, Santiago ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7780-6449, Flintrop, Clara M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5711-0521, Koch, Florian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7107-4160, Hellmer, Hartmut ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9357-9853, Burkhardt-Holm, Patricia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5396-6405, Janout, Markus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4908-2855, Werner, Ellen, Glemser, Barbara, Balaguer, Jenna, Rogge, Andreas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4036-4082, Holtappels, Moritz ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3682-1903 and Wenzhöfer, Frank ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4621-0586
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During the RV Polarstern expedition to the southern Weddell Sea, in Feb 2021, a breeding colony of notothenioid icefish (Neopagetopsis ionah, Nybelin 1947) of globally unprecedented extent has been discovered. The colony, at time of survey, covered at least ~240 square kilometres of the eastern flank of the Filchner Trough and was comprised of fish nests at a density of 0.26 nests per square metre, representing an estimated minimum total of ~60 million active nests, and an associated fish biomass of > 60,000 tonnes. The majority of nests were each occupied by 1 adult fish guarding 1735 eggs (±433 SD). Bottom water temperatures adjacent to the nests were up to 2 °C warmer than the surrounding bottom waters, indicating a spatial correlation between the modified Warm Deep Water (mWDW) upflow onto the Weddell Shelf and active nesting.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5427-0151, Hehemann, Laura ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0967-8945, Boehringer, Lilian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7322-5145, Tippenhauer, Sandra ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3405-6275, Wege, Mia, Bornemann, Horst, Pineda Metz, Santiago ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7780-6449, Flintrop, Clara M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5711-0521, Koch, Florian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7107-4160, Hellmer, Hartmut ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9357-9853, Burkhardt-Holm, Patricia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5396-6405, Janout, Markus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4908-2855, Werner, Ellen, Glemser, Barbara, Balaguer, Jenna, Rogge, Andreas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4036-4082, Holtappels, Moritz ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3682-1903 and Wenzhöfer, Frank ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4621-0586
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