Abstract
Aethotaxis mitopteryx is a nototheniid species with a circum-Antarctic distribution in the Southern Ocean. We present new locality records, buoyancy measurements, and morphometric data on five A. mitopteryx specimens collected from the Bransfield Strait. Our analyses demonstrate that A. mitopteryx is neutrally buoyant. This result lends additional support to the hypothesis that neutral buoyancy has a single evolutionary origin in Notothenioidei. Food items in these specimens consisted entirely of krill (Euphausia sp.), and all specimens were sexually immature. We present morphometric data from these five specimens and compare to the holotype specimen, which is the only A. mitopteryx specimen collected in the Ross Sea.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Capt. Peter Njardvik, and the officers and crew of the R/V Yuzhmorgeologiya. This work was supported in part by NSF grant OPP-0336932 to H.W.D. The US Antarctic Marine Living Resources Program and the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History provided travel and research collection support.
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Near, T.J., Kendrick, B.J., William Detrich, H. et al. Confirmation of neutral buoyancy in Aethotaxis mitopteryx DeWitt (Notothenioidei: Nototheniidae). Polar Biol 30, 443–447 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0201-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0201-y