Plankton balloon to six times their size to reach ocean surface

• A new species of bioluminescent phytoplankton, Pyrocystis noctiluca, has been discovered to balloon to six times their original size.
• Phytoplankton, which are 5%-10% heavier than seawater, have to find ways to beat gravity to stay at the surface for photosynthesizing.
• The researchers found two different sizes of P. noctiluca in a research vessel off the coast of Hawaii.
• The team used a “gravity machine” to create a virtual reality environment mimicking the ocean’s depths.
• The inflated cells were less dense than the surrounding seawater, allowing them to escape the downward pull of gravity and float towards the virtual surface.
• The expansion is a natural part of the plankton’s cell cycle, where a single-celled plankton divides into two, causing the new cells to grow in size.