About the Cruise

The ICEFISH 2004 Cruise was considered to be the first comprehensive international survey of the fishes of the Sub-Antarctic marine habitat. In a world experiencing changes in global climate, loss of biological diversity, and depletion of marine fisheries, the Antarctic, Sub-Antarctic and their biota offer compelling natural laboratories for understanding the evolutionary impacts of these processes.

From May through July of 2004, a team of researchers collected specimens of lower latitude fishes in order to relate the evolution, physiology, biochemistry and population dynamics of high-latitude Antarctic fishes of the suborder Notothenioidei to the transitional fish fauna of the Sub-Antarctic. This work has and will continue to contribute to development of a baseline understanding of these sensitive ecosystems, one against which future changes in species distribution and survival may be evaluated judiciously.