Despite this discovery, co-author Camrin Braun, an oceanographer and ecologist at WHOI pointed out that we still don\u2019t know what these elusive and endangered sharks are feeding on when they are diving into this deep-ocean ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Endangered basking sharks forage some 1000metres below sea level in the ocean\u2019s twilight zones during their 17,000km winter migration journey, highlighting the importance of this little-known ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute analysed more than 8000 days of tracking data collected from 37 basking sharks tagged between 2004 and 2011 near Cape\u202fCod. In that time, they observed basking sharks diving as far down as the lower boundary of the ocean twilight zone, which extends from 200 to 1,000 metres below the sea level.<\/p>\n
\u201cReaching depths of 800 to 1,000\u202fmeters is physiologically demanding. It\u2019s cold, dark, and low\u2011oxygen. Yet these sharks repeatedly dive into the secondary deep scattering layer, a resource that most large pelagic predators cannot exploit,\u201d said Jaida Elcock, doctoral candidate in the MIT\u2011WHOI Joint Program and lead author of the paper.<\/p>\n
This, they say, highlights the importance of the twilight, otherwise known as the mesopelagic zone. This area hosts more biomass than any other area of the water column, yet very little is understood about the lasting impacts of increased fishing or its role in the carbon cycle.<\/p>\n
In June, an international commitment to protect one the twilight zone was launched by Fiji and Panama. The Mesopelagic Zone Conservation Challenge<\/a> is a call to governments worldwide to take concrete action to safeguard this deep ocean stratum.<\/p>\n Despite this discovery, co-author Camrin Braun, an oceanographer and ecologist at WHOI pointed out that we still don\u2019t know what these elusive and endangered sharks are feeding on when they are diving into this deep-ocean ecosystem.<\/p>\n
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