Mesopelagic fish abundance and particle size spectrum analysis from Maria S. Merian cruise MSM26, spring 2013

One aspect of these investigations is to examine the biomes defined by Longhurst (2007). These biomes are largely based on productivity measured with remote sensing.

During MSM 26, mesopelagic fish and size-spectrum data were collected to test the biome classifications of the north Atlantic. In most marine systems, the size-spectrum is a decay function with more, smaller organisms and fewer larger organisms. The intercept of the size-spectrum has been linked to overall productivity while the slope represents the "rate of decay" of this productivity (Zhou 2006, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbi119).