{"id":72,"date":"2026-07-14T07:36:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T07:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2nmnews.com\/?p=72"},"modified":"2026-07-14T07:36:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T07:36:37","slug":"the-trillions-of-deep-sea-creatures-that-rise-every-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/?p=72","title":{"rendered":"The Trillions of Deep-Sea Creatures That Rise Every Night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every night, trillions of small marine animals rise hundreds of metres from the ocean\u2019s twilight zone to feed near the surface, creating the largest animal migration on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The movement\u2014known as diel vertical migration\u2014begins as darkness protects zooplankton, fish and squid from visual predators. At sunrise, the animals descend again to deeper water, where sunlight fades and many species produce their own bioluminescent glow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(auto-fit,minmax(260px,1fr));gap:1rem;margin:1.8rem 0;\">\n<figure style=\"margin:0;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/2nmnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-13.png\" alt=\"Deep-sea squid against a black background\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:.82rem;color:#625b50;margin-top:.4rem;\">A deep-sea squid adapted to life beyond strong sunlight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"margin:0;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/2nmnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-14.png\" alt=\"Small dark lanternfish from the ocean twilight zone\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:.82rem;color:#625b50;margin-top:.4rem;\">Lanternfish are among the twilight zone\u2019s abundant migrators.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"margin:0;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/2nmnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-15.png\" alt=\"Pale deep-sea squid with large blue eye\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:.82rem;color:#625b50;margin-top:.4rem;\">Many deep-sea animals rise toward surface waters after sunset.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"margin:0;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/2nmnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-16.png\" alt=\"Translucent young deep-sea fish\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:.82rem;color:#625b50;margin-top:.4rem;\">Transparency can help young marine animals avoid detection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mesopelagic zone stretches from roughly 200 metres to 1,000 metres below the surface and may contain about 95% of the world\u2019s fish biomass. Scientists estimate that the organisms taking part in the nightly migration have a combined biomass of about 10 billion tonnes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The migration is also important for the climate. Animals feed on carbon-rich organic matter near the surface, then carry it into deeper water as they descend. Researchers estimate this biological transport could move as much as six gigatonnes of carbon into the deep ocean each year, where some of it may remain for centuries or millennia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scientists warn that warming seas, declining sea ice and potential expansion of mesopelagic fishing could disrupt the migration and the food webs it supports. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has called for caution on new fisheries until researchers better understand this vast ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Source: BBC Future, with research commentary from marine scientists Laura Hobbs and Jon Copley. Photos supplied by the user from the referenced BBC feature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every night, trillions of small marine animals rise hundreds of metres from the ocean\u2019s twilight zone to feed near the surface, creating the largest animal migration\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-climate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73,"href":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions\/73"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2nmnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}