There are more fish in the twilight zone near the Antarctic than we thought

Amazing stuff! What little we still now about our oceans!

More evidence that Global Warming is a hoax and Climate Change is a religion!

"... researchers say, the biomass (total weight of the fish) in the areas close to the Antarctic could be 1.8-3.6 greater than previously expected ...
Fish play a vital role in the oceanic carbon cycle, and they’re also a key component of their ecosystems."

From the abstract:

"The oceanic mesopelagic zone, 200–1000 m below sea level, holds abundant small fishes that play central roles in ecosystem function. Global mesopelagic fish biomass estimates are increasingly derived using active acoustics, where echosounder-generated signals are emitted, reflected by pelagic organisms and detected by transducers on vessels. Previous studies have interpreted a ubiquitous decline in acoustic reflectance towards the Antarctic continent as a reduction in mesopelagic fish biomass. Here, we use empirical data to estimate species-specific acoustic target strength for the dominant mesopelagic fish of the Scotia Sea in the Southern Ocean. We use these data, alongside estimates of fish relative abundance from net surveys, to interpret signals received in acoustic surveys and calculate mesopelagic biomass of the broader Southern Ocean. We estimate the Southern Ocean mesopelagic fish biomass to be approximately 274 million tonnes if Antarctic krill contribute to the acoustic signal, or 570 million tonnes if mesopelagic fish alone are responsible. These quantities are approximately 1.8 and 3.8 times greater than previous net-based biomass estimates. We also show a peak in fish biomass towards the seasonal ice-edge, corresponding to the preferred feeding grounds of penguins and seals ... Our study provides new insights into the abundance and distributions of ecologically significant mesopelagic fish stocks across the Southern Ocean ecosystem."

"... However, large-scale biomass estimates for the Southern Ocean are rare, which limits our ability to quantify the importance of mesopelagic fish in ecosystem functioning and carbon sequestration. ..."

There are more fish in the "twilight" zone near the Antarctic than we thought The more researchers look in the oceans, the more they find them teeming with life.

Large mesopelagic fish biomass in the Southern Ocean resolved by acoustic properties (open access)