IEDA
Project Information
Habitat Severity and Internal Ice in Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes
Short Title:
Habitat Severity and Internal Ice in Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes
Start Date:
2017-08-08
End Date:
2020-12-31
Description/Abstract
Notothenioid fishes live in the world's coldest marine waters surrounding Antarctica and have evolved strategies to avoid freezing. Past studies have shown that most Antarctic notothenioids produce special antifreeze proteins that prevent the growth of ice crystals that enter the body. While these proteins help prevent individuals from being killed by growing ice crystals, it is unclear how these fish avoid the accumulation of these small ice crystals inside their tissues over time. This project will observe how ice crystal accumulation relates to the harshness of a fish's environment within different habitats of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The researchers collected fishes and ocean observations at different field sites that cover a range of habitat severity in terms of temperature and iciness. The researchers installed an underwater ocean observatory near McMurdo Station (The McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory, MOO; Nov. 2017 - Nov. 2019) which included a conductivity-temperature-depth sensor (CTD), a high-definition video/still image camera and a research quality hydrophone. The observatory produced oceanographic data, time-lapse images of the immediate environs, and a high-resolution hydroacoustic dataset from the entire deployment. Seawater temperature data loggers were also deployed at other shallow, nearshore sites around McMurdo Sound to provide context and assessment of environmental conditions experienced by the fishes.
Personnel
Person Role
Cziko, Paul Investigator and contact
DeVries, Arthur Co-Investigator
Funding
Antarctic Instrumentation and Support Award # 1644196
Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems Award # 1644196
AMD - DIF Record(s)
Deployment
Deployment Type
Paul Cziko general deployment
Data Management Plan
None in the Database
Product Level:
1 (processed data)
Publications
  1. Ainley, D., Cziko, P., Nur, N., Rotella, J., Eastman, J., Larue, M., et al.. (2020). Further evidence that Antarctic toothfish are important to Weddell seals. Antarctic Science, 1-13. (doi:10.1017/S0954102020000437)
  2. Weddell seals produce ultrasonic vocalizations (doi:10.1121/10.0002867)
Platforms and Instruments

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