News Oceans

How tiny phytoplankton trek long distances upward in the ocean

By ballooning to six times normal size, the single-celled organisms can travel tens of meters

An image taken under a microscope shows two phytoplankton, one at bottom left a fraction of the size of the one in the center of the image. The single-celled organisms swell to the larger size, allowing them to rise up the water column in the ocean.

The phytoplankton Pyrocystis noctiluca is able to navigate vertically upward in the ocean by ballooning to six times its size. Here, individuals under the microscope are shown before and after inflation.

By Gennaro Tomma

It’s one of the most massive migrations on Earth: a huge biomass of tiny plankton that travel from deep in the sea toward the surface.