Cod Icefish Species Stock Video Footage

The notothens or cod icefishes are the family Nototheniidae of acanthopterygian fishes. They are traditionally placed in the order Perciformes together with their relatives, but like every lineage in the order, actual phylogenetic relationships among these species have not yet been determined with certainty.[Notothens are largely found in the Southern Ocean and are particularly abundant off the shores of Antarctica. As the dominant Antarctic fish taxa, they occupy both sea-bottom and water-column ecological niches. Although lacking a gas bladder, they have undergone a depth-related diversification, such as increased fatty tissues and reduced mineralization of the bones, resulting in a body density approaching neutral, to fill a variety of niches. The spleen may be used to remove ice crystals from circulating blood. As the chilly Antarctica and sub-Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean average −1 to 4 °C (30–39 °F), most species of these regions produce antifreeze glycoproteins to prevent the formation of ice crystals in blood and other body fluids Learn more about Cod Icefish