Aspects of the biology of the icefish Dacodraco hunteri (Notothenioidei, Channichthyidae) in the Ross Sea, Antarctica

On the basis of five specimens, the icefish Dacodraco hunteri (Notothenioid ei, Channichthyidae) is documented for the first time in the Ross Sea, Anta rctica. Meristic counts and morphometric measurements are provided for this small, streamlined, laterally compressed species. D. hunteri has a weakly ossified skeleton with considerable cartilage in the skull. It has a partia lly persistent notochord and reduced amounts of bone in the vertebral colum n since the centra are incompletely constricted. Its weight in seawater ave rages only 1.28% of its weight in air and, as one of the lightest nototheni oids, D. hunteri is probably a permanent inhabitant of the water column. Th e diet consists of relatively large specimens of the pelagic nototheniid fi sh Pleuragramma antarcticum.