{"id":2793,"date":"2026-04-14T09:45:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/?p=2793"},"modified":"2026-04-30T09:47:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T07:47:49","slug":"geo-magazine-04-2026-features-my-photography-in-the-story-mondsuchtig-about-animals-that-follow-an-internal-lunar-clock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/?p=2793","title":{"rendered":"GEO magazine 04\/2026 features my photography in the story \u2018monds\u00fcchtig\u2019\u2014 about animals that follow an internal lunar clock."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When the Moon Takes the Lead: My Journey to the Ocean’s “Dating Stars”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a photographer, I\u2019m used to waiting for the perfect light. But for my latest feature in GEO, the most important player wasn’t the sun\u2014it was the moon. It acts as the ultimate conductor for a natural spectacle so precise and fleeting that you could easily miss it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I set out to capture creatures that align their entire lives with an internal “lunar clock.” I was particularly fascinated by the marine midge Clunio marinus. These tiny beings have an incredibly narrow window of time: they hatch by the light of the moon, find a mate, reproduce, and lay their eggs\u2014all within just a few hours before their life cycle ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a “one-night stand” of millions, emerging from the sea simultaneously as if at the push of a button. Without this perfect lunar synchronization, they would never find each other in the vastness of the ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To document this story, I visited the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Pl\u00f6n. There, Tobias Kaiser\u2019s team investigates how this genetic lunar clock actually works. It was incredible to see how different populations\u2014from Helgoland to Brittany\u2014react uniquely to the moonlight, each following its own local rhythm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This project reminded me once again how deeply interconnected nature is. For these animals, the moon is much more than just a light in the night sky\u2014it is their survival guide, their “dating tool,” and their destiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can find the full story and all my photos in the current issue of GEO (04\/2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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M\u00e4nnlicher Borstenwurm (Platynereis dumerilii); Bei diesem Meereswurm geben die Artgenossen zeitgleich Spermien und Eier in das Wasser abgegeben werden. Diese synchronisation wird duch den Mond- und Sonnenzyklus gesteuert. Zwei inere Uhren, die circadiane und die circalunare Uhr, sind daran beteiligt. Diese Uhren beeinflussen sowohl die Genregulationsebene als auch die Verhaltenssteuerung. Monduhr (circalunare Uhr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Moon Takes the Lead: My Journey to the Ocean’s “Dating Stars” As a photographer, I\u2019m used to waiting for the perfect light. But for my latest feature in GEO, the most important player wasn’t the sun\u2014it was the moon. It acts as the ultimate conductor for a natural spectacle so precise and fleeting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,56,42],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2793"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2803,"href":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2793\/revisions\/2803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solvinzankl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}