Large Luminous Plankton in Bioluminescence Peaks in the Black Sea

• Published in: Russian journal of marine biology Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 247 - 255
• Main Authors: Temnykh, A. V., Silakov, M. I., Melnik, A. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-08-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abundance; Bioluminescence; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Correlation coefficient; Dominant species; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Life Sciences; Original Papers; Plankton; Vertical profiles; Zooplankton; Black Sea; plankton community; luminous invertebrates; bioluminescence; ctenophores; large luminous zooplankton; the Black Sea; dinoflagellate
• ISSN: 1063-0740; 1608-3377
• DOI: 10.1134/S1063074022040113

In the Black Sea, one peak was usually observed in the vertical profile of bioluminescence: in summer, this peak was recorded at a depth of 5–30 m at night and at a depth of 50–82 m in the daytime. Two peaks corresponding to the same horizons were detected in the morning, and in the evening at two of the fourteen studied stations. In the upper peak, a strong positive relationship was observed between the total intensity of bioluminescence and the abundance of the three dominant species: the correlation coefficient
R
was +0.79 for the plankton species
Noctiluca scintillans
and
Oikopleura dioica
, +0.70 for
Oithona similis
, and +0.82 for the total abundance of luminous plankton. In the upper peak, the abundance of these species showed a significant inverse dependence on temperature, while
N. scintillans
revealed a significant inverse relationship with changes in salinity (
R
= −0.72). The dinoflagellate
N. scintillans
dominated in abundance at almost all stations. No significant correlation between bioluminescence and abundance of luminous species was found in lower peaks. We suppose that other zooplankton organisms also contribute to the bioluminescence field, whose ability to glow has not yet been studied.