Feeding ecology of Benthosema glaciale across the North Atlantic
The glacier lanternfish Benthosema glaciale is a key myctophid with a wide distribution in the northern Atlantic. It is a species that has a strong vertical migration capacity and have the potential to move between the surface waters and mesopelagic depths in a diel cycle (DVM), mainly depending on...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1086607 https://doaj.org/article/09c9bc3878134bd8bc9dbf3705eac7eb |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:09c9bc3878134bd8bc9dbf3705eac7eb 2023-05-15T15:48:07+02:00 Feeding ecology of Benthosema glaciale across the North Atlantic Tor Knutsen Espen Strand Thor A. Klevjer Anne Gro Vea Salvanes Cecilie Broms Synne Myhre Sunde Dag Lorents Aksnes Eva García-Seoane Webjørn Melle 2023-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1086607 https://doaj.org/article/09c9bc3878134bd8bc9dbf3705eac7eb EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1086607/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2023.1086607 https://doaj.org/article/09c9bc3878134bd8bc9dbf3705eac7eb Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 10 (2023) Benthosema glaciale feeding ecology North-Atlantic distribution diet mesopelagic fish open ocean Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1086607 2023-02-19T01:28:11Z The glacier lanternfish Benthosema glaciale is a key myctophid with a wide distribution in the northern Atlantic. It is a species that has a strong vertical migration capacity and have the potential to move between the surface waters and mesopelagic depths in a diel cycle (DVM), mainly depending on ambient light conditions. We investigated the feeding ecology of B. glaciale across the Norwegian, Iceland, Irminger and Labrador Sea basins. An important component of Benthosema diet was various types of calanoid copepods, but with some additional variability across the deep basins. ‘House’s’ of Appendicularia were only found in stomachs from the Labrador basin and were positively selected for here. The large calanoid Calanus hyperboreus was strongly selected for in the Iceland Sea, while its smaller counterpart C. finmarchicus was negatively selected for here. Fish from the Irminger, Labrador and Norwegian Seas displayed a high number of empty stomachs while no fish stomachs were found empty in the Iceland Sea. Contrary to expectation due to being located at the highest latitude, Benthosema in the Iceland Sea had significantly higher condition factor (for both small and large fish) and liver indices compared to fish from other basins, but the abundance of small fish in the sampled population here was very low. This contrasts with the “light environment exclusion” (LEE) hypothesis, which propose that the extreme light environment at higher latitudes restricts feeding opportunities for mesopelagic fish at high latitudes. It is suggested that improved classification of prey through stomach analyses should aim to allow bioluminescent organisms to be separated from non-bioluminescent prey if feasible. This would allow improved resolution to analyse stomach contents and certainly progress our understanding of the success of myctophids across variable habitats. Article in Journal/Newspaper Calanus hyperboreus glacier Iceland Labrador Sea North Atlantic Copepods Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Frontiers in Marine Science 10 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Benthosema glaciale feeding ecology North-Atlantic distribution diet mesopelagic fish open ocean Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
Benthosema glaciale feeding ecology North-Atlantic distribution diet mesopelagic fish open ocean Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Tor Knutsen Espen Strand Thor A. Klevjer Anne Gro Vea Salvanes Cecilie Broms Synne Myhre Sunde Dag Lorents Aksnes Eva García-Seoane Webjørn Melle Feeding ecology of Benthosema glaciale across the North Atlantic |
topic_facet |
Benthosema glaciale feeding ecology North-Atlantic distribution diet mesopelagic fish open ocean Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
The glacier lanternfish Benthosema glaciale is a key myctophid with a wide distribution in the northern Atlantic. It is a species that has a strong vertical migration capacity and have the potential to move between the surface waters and mesopelagic depths in a diel cycle (DVM), mainly depending on ambient light conditions. We investigated the feeding ecology of B. glaciale across the Norwegian, Iceland, Irminger and Labrador Sea basins. An important component of Benthosema diet was various types of calanoid copepods, but with some additional variability across the deep basins. ‘House’s’ of Appendicularia were only found in stomachs from the Labrador basin and were positively selected for here. The large calanoid Calanus hyperboreus was strongly selected for in the Iceland Sea, while its smaller counterpart C. finmarchicus was negatively selected for here. Fish from the Irminger, Labrador and Norwegian Seas displayed a high number of empty stomachs while no fish stomachs were found empty in the Iceland Sea. Contrary to expectation due to being located at the highest latitude, Benthosema in the Iceland Sea had significantly higher condition factor (for both small and large fish) and liver indices compared to fish from other basins, but the abundance of small fish in the sampled population here was very low. This contrasts with the “light environment exclusion” (LEE) hypothesis, which propose that the extreme light environment at higher latitudes restricts feeding opportunities for mesopelagic fish at high latitudes. It is suggested that improved classification of prey through stomach analyses should aim to allow bioluminescent organisms to be separated from non-bioluminescent prey if feasible. This would allow improved resolution to analyse stomach contents and certainly progress our understanding of the success of myctophids across variable habitats. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tor Knutsen Espen Strand Thor A. Klevjer Anne Gro Vea Salvanes Cecilie Broms Synne Myhre Sunde Dag Lorents Aksnes Eva García-Seoane Webjørn Melle |
author_facet |
Tor Knutsen Espen Strand Thor A. Klevjer Anne Gro Vea Salvanes Cecilie Broms Synne Myhre Sunde Dag Lorents Aksnes Eva García-Seoane Webjørn Melle |
author_sort |
Tor Knutsen |
title |
Feeding ecology of Benthosema glaciale across the North Atlantic |
title_short |
Feeding ecology of Benthosema glaciale across the North Atlantic |
title_full |
Feeding ecology of Benthosema glaciale across the North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Feeding ecology of Benthosema glaciale across the North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Feeding ecology of Benthosema glaciale across the North Atlantic |
title_sort |
feeding ecology of benthosema glaciale across the north atlantic |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1086607 https://doaj.org/article/09c9bc3878134bd8bc9dbf3705eac7eb |
genre |
Calanus hyperboreus glacier Iceland Labrador Sea North Atlantic Copepods |
genre_facet |
Calanus hyperboreus glacier Iceland Labrador Sea North Atlantic Copepods |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 10 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1086607/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2023.1086607 https://doaj.org/article/09c9bc3878134bd8bc9dbf3705eac7eb |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1086607 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
10 |
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1766383119489826816 |