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SINKING RATES OF EUPHAUSIID FECAL PELLETS
Author(s) -
FOWLER SCOTT W.,
SMALL LAWRENCE F.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1972.17.2.0293
Subject(s) - pellets , feces , zoology , algae , settling , biology , environmental science , oceanography , fishery , ecology , geology , environmental engineering
Sinking rates of natural fecal pellets from freshly collected euphausiids (126–862 m/day) were, in general, two to three times higher than the sinking rates of pellets produced by the same animals maintained on a diet of Artemia and algae (53–411 m/day). The difference is attributed to different degrees of compaction as well as different food residues in the two types of pellets. Sinking rates of natural fecal pellets from euphausiids can account for the rapid descent of radionuclides. Euphausiid fecal pellets may be at least as important quantitatively as sinking carcasses in the downward transport of matter to deep water and sediments.