Overview
- Researchers aboard the SA Agulhas II, which sailed in January 2019 to search for Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, used a remote vehicle to film seafloor opened by iceberg A68.
- The footage documented more than a thousand circular nests with adults, eggs, and larvae of the yellowfin notothen, Lindbergichthys nudifrons.
- The nests formed geometric patterns, with about 42% in tight clusters that match a collective defense pattern known as the selfish herd.
- Ribbon worms, seen near the nests and known to follow chemical cues to eggs, may struggle to single out prey when many nests sit together.
- The authors say the find reveals a complex and fragile ecosystem and urge the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to approve a Weddell Sea protected zone.