Niwa scientists have anchored an echosounder to the sea floor of Terra Nova Bay that could reveal the mystery of silverfish reproduction under the Antarctic ice.
Silverfish are important in the marine food web, providing a link between zooplankton and predators like penguins seals, and toothfish. While silverfish eggs are observed in abundance in Terra Nova Bay every spring, no-one knows whether the fish migrate into the bay to lay them under the cover of the winter ice, or if the eggs wash in on the current.