Mesopelagic Fish Ecology, Biology and Evolution

Dear Colleagues, 

Mesopelagic fish are considered the most abundant vertebrate group on earth. They inhabit the twilight zone (~200–1000 m depth), while several species perform Diel Vertical Migrations to upper layers during the night. Mesopelagic fish are important food-web components of the deep-sea ecosystems, as they are largely involved in biogeochemical cycles linking plankton with (sub-) apex predators and contribute substantially to carbon sequestration from the oceans, a process known as the “biological pump”. In recent years, the growing interest in their exploitation highlights the need for improving the body of knowledge on these species. Thus, despite their abundance and remarkable ecological role, information gaps on their ecology, biology, genetic connectivity, and evolutionary aspects are evident. The lack of adequate information poses high uncertainty for the sustainability of potential mesopelagic fisheries and impedes evaluating impacts on other organisms, especially protected, endangered, and threatened species that feed directly on them.

This Special Issue invites studies focusing on mesopelagic fish community composition and abundance, horizontal and vertical distribution, links with abiotic features, interactions (e.g., trophic) with other organisms, contribution to the biological pump, biogeography, genetic population structure and connectivity, evolutionary adaptations, the potential for exploitation, climate impacts, other threats, and any other aspect that improves understanding of their ecology, biology, and evolution.

Dr. Konstantinos Tsagarakis
Dr. María Quintela
Dr. Pilar Olivar
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fishes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• vertical migrations
• biological pump
• oxygen minimum zones
• lanternfish
• hatchetfish
• lightfishes
• bristlemouths
• deep-sea
• twilight zone
• fisheries
• biogeography
• population genetics
• connectivity
• feeding ecology