The presence of morphologically identical individuals that are genetically divergent, known as cryptic species, is a phenomenon that is likely to be of importance at the theoretical level, for speciation studies, and at the applied level, for management purposes. Cryptic species are probably common in the marine environment, and they have been described in a variety of habitats. Here we present...

The glacier lanternfish Benthosema glaciale is a key myctophid with wide distribution in the northern Atlantic. It species that has strong vertical migration capacity and have potential to move between surface waters mesopelagic depths diel cycle (DVM), mainly depending on ambient light conditions. We investigated feeding ecology of B. across Norwegian, Iceland, Irminger Labrador Sea basins. An...

A bottom-mounted upward-facing 38-kHz echo sounder was deployed at ~400 m and cabled to shore in Masfjorden (~60°52'N, ~5°24'E), Norway. The scattering layers seen during autumn (September-October) 2008 were identified by trawling. Glacier lanternfish (Benthosema glaciale) were mainly distributed below ~200 m and displayed three different diel behavioral strategies: normal diel vertical migrati...

Mesopelagic fishes occur in all the world’s oceans, but their abundance and consequently their ecological significance remains uncertain. The current global estimate based on net sampling prior to 1980 suggests a global abundance of one gigatonne (109 t) wet weight. Here we report novel evidence of efficient avoidance of such sampling by the most common myctophid fish in the Northern Atlantic, ...