World's Largest Fish Nesting Ground With 60 Million Nests Discovered Under Antarctic Ice (Pics & Video)

According to a new study published in Current Biology, an estimated 60 million active nests of Jonah's icefish (Neopagetopsis ionah) stretch across a vast area of at least 240 square kilometers. The discovery was facilitated by a towed camera system led by the German research vessel Polarstern. Until now, researchers have encountered only a handful of icefish nests at a time, or perhaps several dozen. Even the most gregarious nest-building fish species were previously known to gather only in the hundreds (other such species include the artistically inclined pufferfish, and freshwater cichlids).