LAUSR

Mesopelagic fishes play a central role in marine food webs linking primary consumers to top predators. In this study, measures of direct calorimetry were used to analyse the energy density of 34 mesopelagic species collected at 12 stations in the equatorial and tropical Atlantic. Mean energy density ranged from 2.7 kJ/g wet weight for the lanterfish Lampanyctus nobilis to 8.7 kJ/g wet weight for the lanterfish Benthosema glaciale. The study includes species of the orders Myctophiformes and Stomiiformes and migrants, non-migrants and partial-migrants species are represented. The majority of species are grouped into the medium energy quality category (ED from 4 to 6 kJ/g); myctophiformes showed higher energetic values than the stomiiformes. For the different species the ED values were discussed in relation to spawning period, energy allocation strategies for reproduction and growth, feeding and migratory behaviour as well as the ecoregion of study. These values will be useful for future assessment of energetic transfer between trophic levels and energetic modelling of Atlantic ecosystems. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.