Swimming against the flow: A mechanism of zooplankton aggregation

Amatzia Genin, Jules S. Jaffe, Ruth Reef, Claudio Richter, Peter J S Franks

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

213 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Zooplankton reside in a constantly flowing environment. However, information about their response to ambient flow has remained elusive, because of the difficulties of following the individual motions of these minute, nearly transparent animals in the ocean. Using a three-dimensional acoustic imaging system, we tracked >375,000 zooplankters at two coastal sites in the Red Sea, Resolution of their motion from that of the water showed that the animals effectively maintained their depth by swimming against upwelling and down-welling currents moving at rates of up to tens of body lengths per second, causing their accumulation at frontal zones. This mechanism explains how oceanic fronts become major feeding grounds for predators and targets for fishermen.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)860-862
Number of pages3
JournalScience
Volume308
Issue number5723
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 May 2005
Externally publishedYes

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