Illex argentinus | Mallemaroking

Mark Brandon • January 28, 2015

The South West Atlantic is a very productive part of the global ocean. This MODIS image from the Terra satellite shows the east coast of Argentina and the Falkland Islands. The ocean between is filled with swirls of lighter colour which are a plankton bloom along the continental shelf of South America.

Terra/MODIS Image captured 21 January 2015 14:00 UTC. FULL IMAGE LINK

The high plankton productivity means that there is food for the higher predators – and this region is famed as an extraordinarily rich squid fishing ground. In 2014 the fishery apparently took over 1/4 million tons of the squid Illex argentinus.

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Posted in Science. Tags: Argentina, Falkland Islands, Illex argentinus, oceanography, South Atlantic, squid on January 28, 2015 by Mark Brandon.