Overview
- More than 1,000 circular nests were recorded by a 2019 ROV survey at over 350 meters depth on the Western Weddell Sea seafloor, each swept clean of detritus.
- The sites are attributed to yellowfin notie (Lindbergichthys nudifrons), with video showing parent fish guarding eggs within the depressions.
- Nests appear in repeating geometric arrangements—clusters, crescents, U-shapes, lines and ovals—alongside some solitary nests that are typically larger.
- Access to the previously hidden seabed followed the 2017 calving of the 5,800‑square‑kilometer A68 iceberg from the Larsen C Ice Shelf, and the footage was collected from SA Agulhas II during the Endurance search.
- The study identifies a Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem and adds weight to proposals for a Weddell Sea Marine Protected Area, while emphasizing that the findings are a single snapshot and require follow-up surveys.