08/16/09
Have you been doing any studies on vertical migration from day to night in any plankton trawls or otherwise? If so what type of organisms have you seen in the samples? —Kelsey, a college student from Florida
Yes, we have been using a MOCNESS to sample the midwater and plankton nets to sample surface waters around the clock. Some midwater fishes (myctophids) make daily vertical migrations from deep waters during the daytime to surface waters at night. When we are on submersible dives in the afternoon, we see midwater fishes at the ocean bottom, and when we tow nets at the surface at night, we also collect midwater fishes, indicating that these fishes exhibit daily vertical migrations through the water column.
