Fish & squid found in the Norwegian spawning grounds of the Central Arctic Ocean

Small fish are abundant in the 200-600 m deep Atlantic water layer of the Amundsen Basin, according to a unique hydroacoustic dataset collected by the EFICA Consortium, which revealed a "deep scattering layer" (DSL) consisting of zooplanktion and fish along the MOSAiC expedition's 3170 km long track. As a result, it came as quite a surprise when four larger fish were suddenly caught at a depth of 350-400 metres. The research team was even more surprised to discover that three of the fish were Atlantic cod, a predatory species that is not supposed to live this far north and, as a coastal fish, not in a four-kilometer-deep ocean basin more than 500 kilometres from any coastline. The scientists also discovered that Atlantic armhook squid and Atlantic lanternfish occur much further north than previously thought using a deep-sea camera deployed beneath the sea ice. The Atlantic cod came from Norwegian spawning grounds and had been living in Arctic water temperatures (-1 to 2 degree ...