Estimated near‐surface mesoplanktonic bioluminescence in the western North Atlantic during July 1986

• Published in: Limnology and Oceanography
• Main Authors: Batchelder, Harold P., Swift, Elijah
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1989
• Subjects: North Atlantic; Copepods
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1989.34.1.0113; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.4319%2Flo.1989.34.1.0113; https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4319/lo.1989.34.1.0113

Mesoplankton samples (retained by 202#x2010; µ m mesh) were collected with oblique net hauls from 150 m to the surface along 62°W from 30°N (Sargasso Sea) to 44°30′N (Nova Scotia shelf) in July 1986. The amount of bioluminescence produced by mechanically stimulating individual bioluminescent organisms (ostracods, copepods, cuphausiids) to exhaustion (TMSL) was measured with a shipboard photometry system. The TMSL values combined with individual organism abundances from the net tows provided an estimate of total near#x2010;surface bioluminescent potential. It was greater (11.4 × 10 14 photons m −2 ) in the Sargasso Sea than in the Slope Water north of the Gulf Stream (3.0 × 10 14 photons m −2 ). In the Sargasso Sea, Pyrocystis noctiluca was the major light producer south of 39°N, but became less important between 39°N and 42°N. In Slope Water, north of 42°N, the copepod Metridia lucens was responsible for 90% of the potential near#x2010;surface bioluminescence produced by mesoplankton.