ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Deep-Sea Environments and Ecology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1648168
A Finding of Maintained Cryonotothenioid Nesting Sites in the Western Weddell Sea
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Essex School of Life Sciences, Colchester, United Kingdom
- 2Nekton Foundation, Begbroke, United Kingdom
- 3University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
- 4National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom
- 5Ocean Census, Begbroke, United Kingdom
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The Weddell Sea is one of Earth's most remote and least studied regions. The region around the Larsen C Ice shelf has been largely inaccessible because of its remoteness, extreme cold, rough seas, ice cover, and deep waters. This study documents the first discovery of maintained nesting sites of Lindbergichthys nudifrons (yellowfin notie) in the western Weddell Sea. Nesting sites were found at all locations surveyed during the Weddell Sea Expedition 2019 onboard the SA Agulhas II using the remotely operated vehicle, Lassie. Unlike previous studies, no significant differences in localised water temperature were detected between nesting sites and surrounding waters, except at one site. Novel nesting patterns, groups of nests close to each other, were discernible throughout the video footage; These patterns are thought to have evolved as a form of group predation protection behaviour. These findings provide critical evidence of unique, structured breeding habitats, fulfilling key criteria for the designation of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems and strengthening the case for the proposed Weddell Sea Marine Protected Area.
Keywords: Antartica, Cryonotothenioid, Lindbergichthys nudifrons, Nesting patterns, Western Weddell Sea
Received: 16 Jun 2025; Accepted: 29 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Connelly, Woodall, Rogers and Taylor. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Russell Benjamin Connelly, University of Essex School of Life Sciences, Colchester, United Kingdom
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