Weatherwatch: how the humble salp is helping to fight the climate crisis

The gelatinous creature sucks up organisms that absorb CO₂ and leaves droppings rich in carbon at the bottom of the sea

Salps are jelly-like sea creatures, so humble that few people even know they exist. But there are countless numbers of them swimming in the world's oceans and they help fight climate change.

Salps cruise around the sea surface at night, sucking up and digesting phytoplankton, microscopic plant-like organisms that absorb CO₂ for their photosynthesis. During the day, the salps sink deeper in the sea, possibly to avoid predators, and squirt out unusually heavy droppings rich in carbon left over from their phytoplankton meals. The pellets sink rapidly, up to 1,000 metres deep in a day, and faster than the pellets of most other sea creatures. And when the salp dies, its body also sinks rapidly, sending even more carbon to the ocean depths.