How plankton gets jet lagged: Hormone that govern sleep and jet lag in humans also drives mass migration of plankton

Friday, September 26, 2014 - 09:50 in Biology & Nature

A hormone that governs sleep and jet lag in humans may also drive the mass migration of plankton in the ocean, scientists have found. The molecule in question, melatonin, is essential to maintain our daily rhythm, and scientists have now discovered that it governs the nightly migration of a plankton species from the surface to deeper waters. The findings indicate that melatonin’s role in controlling daily rhythms probably evolved early in the history of animals, and hold hints to how our sleep patterns may have evolved.

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