The secret meal of Antarctic mesopelagic fish (Myctophidae: Electrona) revealed by multimarker metabarcoding The secret meal of Antarctic myctophids

Introduction: In the Southern Ocean, myctophids are the most successful pelagic fish group in terms of diversity, biomass, and abundance. They play a crucial role in linking primary consumers and coupling carbon flux between surface and mesopelagic depths. Understanding their trophodynamics is key to assessing pelagic ecosystem resilience under environmental change. Conventional stomach content analyses indicate that myctophids predominantly feed on crustaceans, such as copepods and euphausiids, but are less effective at detecting easily digestible, soft-bodied organisms like gelatinous zooplankton (GZP) and pteropods.