Diversity of Mesopelagic Organisms
The oceanic mesopelagic or twilight zone (from 200 to 1000 m depth) is inhabited by a huge variety of organisms represented by several zoological groups, both vertebrates and invertebrates. These mesopelagic species play an [...]
Annual SUMMER meeting
This year’s annual meeting was held in Barcelona at Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM) – CSIC from the 4th to the 6th of October. Partners from all over Europe attended the meeting, and [...]
Estimating the biomass of mesopelagic fish; sampling techniques and methods
The depth and unique characteristics of the Mesopelagic ecosystem (between 200 to 1000 metres depth), which is barely reached by light, have made it essential to combine several innovative technologies to estimate the mesopelagic [...]
Bacterial companions of mesopelagic fish and their promises for biotechnology applications
One core aim of the SUMMER project is the evaluation of the potential of mesopelagic fish for high-value products. Fish oil and fish meal, or protein concentrates, are only some well-known fishery by-products, which [...]
Why are there less mesopelagic fish towards the Arctic?
Mesopelagic fish have a wide distribution in the ocean twilight zone across the globe. However, their abundance decreases towards the pole, why? Langbehn et al. set out to find the answers, employing a mechanistic, state-dependent [...]
Mesopelagic fishes in a hurry
Mesopelagic fishes form deep acoustic scattering layers during daytime and, to a varying degree, occupy upper waters at night. The diel vertical migrations relate to changing light levels. The duration of twilight periods may be [...]
News Archive
The elemental building blocks of the mesopelagic community
Elements are vital building blocks for all life on earth. Primates, fish, and crustacean alike consist of a mixture of macroelements such as carbon, phosphorus and sulfur, and microelements such as iron and zinc, [...]
Genetical analyses of oceanic squids
Oceanic squids in the order Oegopsida are ecologically and economically important species in the open ocean. They are the most diverse group of cephalopods (24 families, morphologically different). They play important roles in the [...]
The microbial food web – a key player in the ocean
Just like in any food web, organisms in the oceans find different ways of making their living; they take up different roles in the food web. Tiny algae, so called phytoplankton, make up a [...]
Emergent global biogeography of marine fish food webs
With a changing climate, it is important to understand the links between ocean productivity and fish food web variations - in order to predict future changes in fisheries production. Benthic (seafloor) and planktonic (surface) [...]
JETZON – an introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsAsQAcpr4g NOC scientists are recently back from a cruise to the Porcupine Abyssal Plain observatory in the North Atlantic where they have testing a prototype camera system developed as part of SUMMER. We can hopefully [...]
Do cetaceans eat mesopelagic organisms?
Mesopelagic organisms are important prey for cetacean species, that are known to feed heavily on them, diving to great depth or relying on the diel vertical migration of mesopelagic prey to surface waters [Gimenez [...]
Using environmental DNA to study the behavior and ecology of deep sea fish!
Researchers at AZTI explored how they could use environmental DNA (eDNA) collected in the open ocean in order to gather more knowledge on deep sea fish. Model of DNA strands. By Topshots (Adobe [...]
New Equipment for Sampling the Mesopelagic zone
One of the main goals of the team from the University of St Andrews in SUMMER is to estimate the biomass of fish in the mesopelagic zone (200 - 1000 m depth). We intended to [...]
The Ocean Twilight Zone – Infographic
Check out this new infographic made by illustrator Alazne Zubizarreta, and researcher Raul Prellezo (AZTI)! Download it from the Media-Center under "promotional materials".
Why open data are great – and necessary
“Open data” means that scientists make the data that they collect available to everyone, without any cost or other barrier. This is part of “Open Science”, which also includes publishing research articles in open access, [...]