Up to 40% of creatures in the Twilight Zone could be wiped out by 2100 thanks to climate change

Many creatures from the ocean’s mysterious “twilight zone” could be wiped out by the end of this century amid worsening climate change.

Scientists warn that life in the deepest and darkest reaches of the ocean could drop by as much as 40 percent as temperatures climb towards 2100.

The twilight zone extends from 200 to 1000 meters deep and is home to numerous alien species such as strawberry squid, glow-in-the-dark fish and even sharks.

It is predicted that life here could seriously decline on a global scale within 150 years, with no recovery for several millennia.

“We still know relatively little about the ocean’s twilight zone, but using evidence from the past can help us understand what might happen in the future,” said lead author Dr Katherine Crichton from the University of Exeter.

“Unless we reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly, this could lead to the disappearance or extinction of much life in the twilight zone within 150 years, with effects spanning millennia thereafter.

“Even a low-emission future could have a significant impact, but that would be much less severe than medium- and high-emission scenarios.”

Despite being pitch dark, the twilight zone is filled with myriad enigmatic creatures alongside huge crowds organic material.

This matter – often referred to as “marine snow” – is usually a mix of dead plankton, fish scales and even excrement that can serve as food for the species that lurk here.

If left unconsumed, the snow can instead accumulate on the sea floor, forming sediments and even fossils over the years.

It was these sediments that researchers used to understand wlife can exist in the twilight zone during a warm period.

Research found that high temperatures were bad news for twilight species, as they seemed to get less food from the surface.

This was mainly because warmer conditions catalyzed the rate at which bacteria broke down this matter.

Experts warn it could take millennia for aquatic species to recover from climate change. (Pictured: Crustacean camoflauge spotted by Duke University in 2016)

The pitch-dark twilight zone remains a mysterious place for scientists. Pictured: Stichopathes coral discovered in 2018 by the Oxford University marine team

“We looked at two warm periods in the Earth’s past, about 50 million years ago and 15 million years ago,” said Professor Paul Pearson of Cardiff University, who led the research.

“We discovered that the twilight zone was not always a rich habitat full of life.”

Meanwhile, experts also found that dissolved oxygen availability can also drop as temperatures rise over the years.

This is an essential factor that determines the water quality in the ocean and numerous aquatic species depend on it for survival.

Dr. Crichton continued, “The rich variety of life in the twilight zone has evolved over the past few million years, when ocean waters cooled enough to act like a refrigerator, preserving food longer and improving conditions for life to thrive.” .

‘Our study is a first step in finding out how vulnerable this oceanic habitat may be to global warming.’