'I would say [the massive colony] is almost a new seafloor ecosystem type. It's really surprising that it has never been seen before.”
The researchers were studying chemical connections between surface waters and the seafloor. Part of the research involved surveying seafloor life by slowly towing a device behind the scientists’ icebreaking research vessel. That device recorded video as it glides just above the bottom of the ocean and used sound to map seafloor features.
Purser and colleagues made three more surveys in the area and continued to find nests at a similar density, kilometer after kilometer. Perhaps one of the closest comparisons to icefish among nest-spawning fish are bluegills , which form breeding colonies that can have hundreds of individuals, Purser says.
“It made me think of bird nests,” Desvignes says. “When we see cormorants and other marine birds that nest like that, one next to the other — it’s almost like that.” The icefish could be sustaining Weddell seals, the researchers say. Prior studies have shown the seals spending a lot of time diving in waters above the colony area.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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