By Stephen Beech<\/p>\n
An underwater robot called Lassie has discovered “remarkable” icefish nests while searching for Sir Ernest Shackleton\u2019s lost ship, The Endurance.<\/p>\n
Scientists uncovered a “new and unusual” phenomenon – extensively maintained fish nesting grounds arranged in patterns – in a remote part of Antarctica’s Western Weddell Sea, an area once hidden beneath a 200-metre thick ice shelf.<\/p>\n
When the A68 iceberg, measuring 5,800 square kilometers, calved from the Larsen C Ice Shelf in 2017, it opened new access for research.<\/p>\n
A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) exploring the seafloor revealed more than 1,000 circular nests, each cleared of the layer of plankton that blanketed surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
The nests were not randomly scattered, but instead were organised into “distinct” patterns – forming a vast, geometric fish neighborhood on the seafloor.<\/p>\n
The dimples in the sand are the cleaned fish nests, according to the study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.<\/p>\n
The 2019 Weddell Sea Expedition had two aims: to conduct an interdisciplinary scientific programme in the waters surrounding the Larsen C Ice Shelf, and to locate, survey, and image the wreck of Shackleton’s ship, which sank in 1915.<\/p>\n
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Nests of the yellowfin notie (Lindbergichthys nudifrons). Each nest would have been guarded by a parent fish, protecting their eggs from predators. (Weddell Sea Expedition via SWNS)<\/p>\n
By Talker<\/p>\n
The scientific motivation was driven by the “critical” importance of Antarctica’s floating ice shelves.<\/p>\n
The ice shelves play a crucial global role, acting to support and restrain ice flow from the vast interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.<\/p>\n
When ice shelves thin or collapse, this restraint is lost, leading to accelerated ice flow from the continent, which in turn contributes to global sea-level rise.<\/p>\n
Equipped with autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) aboard the South African polar research vessel SA Agulhas II, the team faced the same extreme sea-ice conditions that had crushed The Endurance more than a century earlier.<\/p>\n
The immense pressure of the thick multi-year pack ice thwarted the 2019 search effort for the Endurance.<\/p>\n
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