NIGHT OCEAN Every night, in oceans across the globe, sensational alien-like creatures rise from the depths to feed. Welcome to the Night Ocean, where an entirely new cast of characters comes to life. Images © Magnus Lundgren / naturepl.com BLANKET OCTOPUS (Tremoctopus gracilis) Looking like something out of a science fiction movie, this blanket octopus is pictured in full opalescent display. Little is known about the rarely- encountered creature, which ranges from the depths of the dark zone to surface waters (where this female was seen in all her psychedelic glory). Anilao, Batangas the Philippines. ZOOPLANKTON Zooplankton is made up of a staggering diversity of animals – from single-celled organisms to the larvae of fish [1], anemones [2] and mollucs [3], as well as crustaceans [4], shellfish and jellies. 1 The zooplankton – in conjunction with hordes of photosynthetic phytoplankton, makes up the planktonic food supply upon which almost all oceanic organisms 2 depend. When the plankton rise, so do the deep ocean predators (pictured: a juvenile flying fish). The vertical migration influences our world more than many of us know. The daily movements of zooplankton help remove carbon from the atmosphere and surface waters, transporting it quickly and efficiently down into the ocean depths, where it can remain for centuries. Given that climate 3 change is already leading to ocean warming and acidification—a trend Every night an astonishing drama from the pages of science fiction. that is expected to accelerate— occurs in the world’s oceans: a The sheer biomass of the small carbon cycling provides the great vertical migration, in which drifting creatures – collectively impetus for much of today’s billions of organisms respond to known as zooplankton – renders zooplankton migration research. the coming darkness. Like marine their nightly trek the largest animal Scientists have also claimed that snow, they rise from the seafloor migration on earth; a living haze so the vertical pumping effect created and float up towards the ocean’s dense that during World War II it when billions of jellyfish and other the surface to feed. confounded the U.S. Navy’s sonar, animals travel up and down the This world feels extra-terrestrial, leading to the belief that enemy water column has as much impact with peculiar inhabitants that submarines might be able hide on ocean circulation as tides and 4 appear to have walked straight within it. winds. AFRICAN POMPANO WUNDERPUS (Alectis ciliaris) (Wunderpus photogenicus) It’s not often that a photographer finds a new This is a juvenile wunderpus, frontier. For Magnus, every a newly discovered octopus “blackwater” dive is an outer that was formally described space-like journey into a by scientists in 2006. As a new and unexplored realm, juvenile, it looks completely in which strange beings like different to the adult stage. this juvenile African pompano Its glass-like body makes the appear from the dark depths. wunderpus hard to detect and The adult fish can grow to its transparency increases its massive sizes - over 80cm chances of survival out in the from mouth to tail tip - but open ocean. the swaying tentacles make it appear many times larger. Balayan Bay, Luzon, the Philippines. Balayan Bay, Luzon, the Philippines. BROWN PAPER NAUTILUS (Argonauta hians) The brown paper nautilus is a “surfing“ specialist that hitches a ride on everything from swimming jellyfish to drifting plastic waste. The nautilus seems to understand that catching a ride on a jellyfish has certain advantages: it uses the hydroid as an active form of protection and also as a weapon to sting small prey. The nautilus belongs to an order of pelagic (open water) octopuses. It is only the females that produce the paper-thin shell, which is used both to regulate buoyancy and as a brood chamber for the nautilus’ eggs. There is a large size difference between the sexes: the female (pictured on the right) grows up to 12 times longer and 600 times heavier than the male (on the left). The small male only mates once, whereas the female can have offspring many times during her life. Balayan Bay, Luzon, the Philippines. More than eighty percent of our many fascinating strategies that ocean is unmapped, unobserved, help pelagic (open water) species and unexplored. Many animals are eat, or avoid being eaten. totally unknown to science, and Travelling, or “surfing” on other their behaviour is an even greater host animals and using them as a mystery. As an eye witness in a combined vehicle and a form of largely unknown world, Magnus protection is one such strategy experiences at close hand how seen in octopuses and other these strange organisms behave molluscs such as shellfish. The and interact with each other. While same strategy is used by parasites, taking photos, he has witnessed which attach themselves to fish. TREVALLY (Carangidae sp.) Many fish species from completely different families around the world have come to the same conclusion: it’s a good idea to live inside a cnidarian when you’re really small. This juvenile trevally is in constant contact with its jellyfish host. It seems that the fish adopts the same colour as the barrel jellyfish. Magnus found red, pink, yellow and brown jellyfish, where the fish always imitated the same colour scheme. This type of jellyfish has been served as a delicacy in China for the past 2,000 years. The fish is not stung by the jellyfish’s stinging cells (nematocysts) but other animals that come into contact with them are. Balayan Bay, Luzon, the Philippines. SCALLOPED RIBBONFISH (Zu cristatus) Like a fantasy vision, this juvenile scalloped ribbonfish, just 6 cm in size, appeared in prime condition, waving its extraordinary elongated fin- rays. The species is rarely seen alive, despite being found circumglobally in all tropical oceans. It ranges as deep as 90 metres and may grow to over one metre in length. Sometimes called “earthquake fish”, it is popularly believed to appear following major earthquake events. This individual was spotted in January 2020, several days after Magnus experienced a 4.6 magnitude earthquake while diving at night in Anilao. A week prior, on the island of Luzon, Taal volcano (picture below) had erupted, flinging ash nine miles into the atmosphere and spewing fountains of lava. The eruption triggered a series of intense earthquakes, which Magnus describes as ‘a long explosion, with many small ones following.’ Anilao, Batangas, the Philippines. Taal volcano erupting on 12th January 2020 MAUVE STINGER (Pelagia noctiluca) A single jellyfish makes a tiny ripple in the world’s oceans but when millions upon millions of them move vertically, they help to mix up ocean waters. Researchers placed a fluorescent dye in front of a jellyfish. To their surprise, rather than swimming through it, the jellyfish appeared to pull the dyed water along with it. In this way, jelly migrations help pull nutrients up from deeper waters, while transporting oxygen down from the surface. Between Pico and Faial, the ZEBRA MANTIS SHRIMP Azores, Portugal. (Lysiosquillina maculata) This is the world’s biggest mantis shrimp, which here is seen swimming just under the surface at night. Magnus was photographing beside a Bagan fishing boat, which was using bright light to attract fish. Whale sharks follow the fishing JELLYNOSE FISH boats too. While Magnus photographed the sharks, he (Atelopus sp.) was attacked by this spearing mantis shrimp, which felt it Little is known about the owned some of the by-catch biology of this species. As an floating in the water. adult, it has a bulbous snout made up of gelatinous tissue (hence ‘jelly nose’), and it lives Triton Bay, Papua Barat, and feeds around the sea bed Indonesia. at depths greater than 200 metres. The juvenile (pictured) lacks the snout, and occupies open water. Balayan Bay, Luzon, the Philippines. JUVENILE EEL (Unidentified) A juvenile eel curls up like a cobra to confuse predators and avoid looking like a protein- rich fish. Its transparent body makes the eel extra difficult to discover. European eels also have a transparent stage, called a glass eel. OVAL SQUID (Sepioteuthis lessoniana) Balayan Bay, Luzon, the Philippines. This squid snuck up to Magnus’s camera and “talked” with his underwater strobes for a good 20 minutes. The oval squid is known for its complex body language, communicating by manipulating the colour of its skin and expressing a dynamic range of body patterns. JUVENILE TREVALLY Green Island, Taiwan. (Caranx sp.) This tiny fish is living in and around a pyrosome (a colonial tunicate comprised of hundreds or sometimes thousands of individuals joined by a gelatinous tunic). Pyrosomes usually live in the upper layers of the open ocean, working in unison to propel the colony through the water. Balayan Bay, Luzon, the Philippines. AFRICAN POMPANO (Alectis ciliaris) This type of trevally is a true cosmopolitan and is found in all tropical oceans worldwide. Adult individuals often hunt along the coastlines but the stunning juveniles live in the open ocean and their long gleaming blue fins resemble the stinging tentacles of a jellyfish. Balayan Bay, Luzon, the Philippines. LION’S MANE NUDIBRANCH DIAMOND SQUID FLYING SEA SNAIL MONKFISH (Melibe leonina) (Thysanoteuthis rhombus) (Clio sp.) (Lophius piscatorius) Most nudibranchs (sea slugs) scour the ocean As an adult, this squid that can reach 1 m in A white angel out in space. That was the first A powerful monkfish photographed from floor for food, but the unusual lion’s mane length and weigh up to 30 kg. Unusually, it lives impression Magnus had when he found this underneath. Note the small bone-like pelvic swims in plankton-rich waters, using its large in pairs. If one is caught by fishermen, the other free-swimming marine snail.