MEPS - Vol. 319 - Feature article
- Dense nighttime aggregation of myctophid fishes in shallow water off Oahu, Hawaii. Photo taken by ROV (NOAA, National Undersea Research Program)
Benoit-Bird KJ, Au WWL
Extreme diel horizontal migrations by a tropical nearshore resident micronekton community
Midwater fishes, shrimp, and squid constitute a resident mesopelagic micronekton community around the Hawaiian Islands. They perform daily migrations, moving from deep waters offshore during the day to within 1 km of the islands at night. By utilizing a newly developed video camera system combined with sonar, Benoit-Bird & Au found that some of these animals make horizontal movements of 11 km round-trip each night. Since this is costly in terms of energy and time for other activities, it must entail substantial compensatory benefits.
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