'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
A breeding colony of 60 million fish has been discovered in Antarctica's ice-covered Weddell Sea - a unique and previously unknown ecosystem that covers an area the size of Malta.
The fascinating find shows how little is known about the ocean depths.
The vast colony, believed to be the world's largest, is home to the remarkable icefish (Neopagetopsis ionah), which has a see-through skull and transparent blood. Icefish are the only vertebrates to have no red blood cells.
To survive at such low temperatures, it has evolved an anti-freeze protein in its transparent blood that stops ice crystals from growing.
The breeding colony was discovered in February 2021 by the German polar research vessel Polarstern, which was surveying the seabed about half a kilometre below the ship. It used a car-sized camera system attached to the stern of the ship that transmits pictures up to the deck as it's being towed.
The expedition was focused on ocean currents and the discovery of the nests, made distinct from the muddy seabed by a circle of stones, was a surprise.
"We just saw fish nest after fish nest for the whole four hours, and during that time we covered maybe six kilometres of the sea floor," said Autun Purser, a postdoctoral reseacher at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany. He's the lead author of a study on the icefish colony that published in the journal Current Biology on Thursday.
"I'd never seen anything like it in 15 years of being an ocean scientist," Purser said. "After that dive, we emailed the experts on shore who know about fish like this. They said, yep, this is pretty unique."
Four further camera dives revealed the dramatic extent of the breeding colony - and its striking uniform nature.
"This is indeed a surprising discovery," said John Postlethwait, a professor of biology at the University of Oregon, who studies the fish. He wasn't involved in the research.
"It is also significant. The extent of the biomass is to me at least unexpected. And the extent to which the fish change the bottom structure of sediment creates [a] habitat for a community that ripples up the foodweb to support a huge variety of species," he added.
The colony covers more than 240 square kilometres, the researchers said. With, on average, one nest for every three square metres, they estimated that the colony includes about 60 million active nests.
Each of the evenly spaced nests was about 15 centimetres deep and 75 centimetres in diameter, contained on average 1,735 eggs. Most were guarded by one adult fish. Some nests only contained eggs, and some were unused.
"The spacing of the nests is kinda like the spacing of birds on a telephone line," Postlethwait added via email.
"Some animals like to be social, but there's a limit. Congregating may give them advantages for finding mates but provides a rich point source for predation."
The fish appear to be attracted by an area of warmer water, which is around 2 C warmer than the surrounding sea bed, which is a chilly 0 C, said Purser. Sea water freezes at a lower temperatre than fresh water.
The researchers have deployed two camera systems to monitor the icefish nests until a research vessel returns. The hope is that photographs will catch more details about the fish nest ecosystem.
One question researchers want to answer is how long the adult fish guard the eggs - experts suspect it could be months - and whether it was the male or female standing watch.
"It appears that that the reproductive behaviour of most, if not all, icefishes, revolves around male courtship of females through building a 'good' nest, said icefish expert H. William Detrich, professor emeritus of biochemistry and marine biology at Northeastern University, via email. He wasn't involved in the research.
The findings reveal a globally unique ecosystem, according to the researchers, and they say it should be designated a protected area.
"The implications for conservation of this species are clear -- a marine protected area should be established in the Weddell Sea to prevent exploitation of this icefish species, " Detrich added.
While the Weddell Sea is covered with sea ice all year round, the ice is relatively thin - three feet thick - meaning that photosynthesis can still take place and life can thrive. Purser said the Weddell Sea floor is far from barren, with sea sponges, corals, octopuses and star fish lurking along the seabed.
Around 2,000 seals also live in the area and likely dive in the breeding area and feed on the icefish, he said, although they didn't have definitive evidence.
Purser said while there were species of freshwater fish that make similar kinds of nest, scientists had "never seen any colonies like this in the deep sea."
"I guess we've only filmed maybe 1 per cent of the Weddell Sea floor, and who knows what else is hidden around the place. I am convinced there's many gaps in our knowledge of the deep sea."
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs will start in net for the Canucks as Vancouver kicks off a second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night.
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.