Quantification of diel vertical migration by micronektonic taxa in the northeast Atlantic

Analyses of day/night changes in the bathymetric distribution of micronektonic biomass at 16 stations in the northeastern Atlantic, sampled between 1978 and 1994, provided quantitative estimates of the organic carbon fluxes associated with diel vertical migration of individual taxa of micronekton. Gelatinous taxa contributed 50–80% of the integrated standing crop by volume but, apart from tunicates, contributed relatively little to the active migratory fluxes when expressed in terms of carbon. Total micronektonic migratory fluxes into the upper 200 m ranged from 12.5 to 58 mgC per m2. At 15 stations, fish and pteropods provided 50–80% of the fluxes into the upper 100, 200 and 400 m. At one station, tunicates (pyrosomes) contributed substantially. Wherever tunicates or the medusa Pelagia were swarming, migrations by other taxa appear to be suppressed. The mean proportions of the stock (in terms of biomass) of each of the dominant migratory taxa entering and leaving the upper 100 m were 23% for tunicates, 18% for fish, 22% for pteropods, 8% for decapod crustaceans and 23% for euphausiids. The maximum proportions for these five taxa were 90%, 60%, 75%, 25% and 75%, respectively. Similar estimates of the mean fluxes into and out of the upper 400 m were generally higher: 19% for tunicates, 39% for fish, 28% for pteropods, 49% for decapods and 55% for euphausiids; the respective maxima were 99%, 74%, 99%, 72% and 91%. It is estimated for fish that if these migrations occur throughout the year, they will result in an active carbon export (both POC and DOC) from the wind-mixed layer and immediate sub-thermocline depths of about 500% of the mean annual standing stock. If this estimate can be extended to other taxa, then the material fluxes resulting from these active migrations will be quantitatively similar to those resulting from the deposition of phytodetritus at temperate latitudes.