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Biomass of mesopelagic organisms in Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ).

Biomass of mesopelagic organisms in Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ).
Biomass of mesopelagic organisms in Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ).
Biomass of mesopelagic organisms in Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ).
Biomass of mesopelagic organisms in Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ).
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439969
Taylor, Eric S.
Biomass of mesopelagic organisms in Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ).
Illustration
05/09/2008
Mesopelagic-Food-Web.jpg
Image Of the Day caption:
The ocean twilight zone200 to 1,000 meters (660 to 3,300 feet) beneath the surfaceteems with life. Spanning the entire world, its waters are vast, dimly lit, and under crushing pressures. Some twilight zone animals migrate to the surface every night to feed under cover of darkness, returning to the relative safety of deeper waters during the day. It is the largest animal migration on Earth. Twilight zone animals are a big part of the ocean's food web and transfer carbon from the surface to the deep sea. That keeps a lot of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from returning to the atmosphere and thus plays a critical role in Earth's climate system.
Oceanus online caption:
Far below sunlit surface waters, the ocean twilight zone teems with life. The biomass of fish there alone may be more than in the rest of the ocean combined. By eating and being eaten, mesopelagic organisms help support the oceans food web and transport huge amounts of carbon from surface waters into the deep ocean, helping to keep heat-trapping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Top predators such as whales, tuna, swordfish, and sharks rely on the twilight zone for food, diving down hundreds or even thousands of feet to catch their prey.
Illustration by Eric S. Taylor, WHOI Creative
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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