Twilight Zone Residency Places Megamouth Sharks Among Earth’s Largest Mesopelagic Fish

Few fish this large inhabit the ocean’s dim midwater layer.

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The mesopelagic zone contains vast but still poorly quantified biomass.

By regularly occupying the mesopelagic zone between 200 and 1,000 meters deep, the megamouth shark ranks among the largest known fish species living in this twilight region.

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Most fish at these depths are comparatively small, adapted to limited light and patchy resources. A five-meter filter feeder operating here stretches the upper boundary of body size in midwater ecosystems.

Its presence challenges assumptions that extreme size is reserved for surface or coastal giants, demonstrating that even dimly lit mid-ocean layers can sustain multi-ton vertebrates.

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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