Myctophids’ role in carbon sequestration

Myctophids play an important role in sequestering carbon from our already overloaded atmosphere. Phytoplankton use carbon dioxide to create energy, zooplankton eat the phytoplankton, and the myctophids and other mesopelagic fish migrate hundreds of meters to the surface to eat the zooplankton. These little fish make the dark descent into the twilight zone, where they are then consumed by predators, or die naturally, sending all that carbon down into the depths where it is sealed away. (citation: https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v610/p149-162/)

With industry chomping at the bit to harvest these little guys, we are drifting from “Can we?” to “Should we?” We may have already reached the tipping point. Greenland will lose 3.3% of its glacial ice, raising the sea level by 24.5cms, or 10 inches no matter what we do (citation: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01441-2). This is significant.