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Scientists soon realized that the bottom does not move up and down every day and decided to find out what kind of animals were living in the deep scattering layer. This work continues today and all along our trip we will trawl the water at night with a giant net to see what kinds of creatures we can find. We will sort, count, identify and catalog all of the animals and plants we catch. Some will even be preserved and returned to the laboratory for further study. Maybe tonight we will find something no one else has ever seen before!

Most of the animals we catch, like krill, are very small,less than a centimeter. Krill belong to the euphausid family and are very motile. They form the main food source of the largest animals on Earth, the great baleen whales. It is amazing that such small creatures can travel over 200 meters in less than 30 minutes!

Larger creatures like squid, jellyfish and vertebrate fish also come up from the depths to feed on the migrators at night. Near Japan, squid fishing boats light up the night with their xenon lamps. The bright lights attract and confuse the squid, and the fishermen pull them into their boats.

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