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In the deep ocean, marine snow (also known as "ocean dandruff") is a continuous shower of mostly organic detritus falling from the upper layers of the water column.It is a significant means of exporting energy from the light-rich photic zone to the aphotic zone below, which is referred to as the biological pump.
Marine snow comprises macroscopic organic aggregates >500 μm in size and originates from clumps of aggregated phytoplankton (phytodetritus), discarded appendicularian houses, fecal matter and other miscellaneous detrital particles, [56] Appendicularians secrete mucous feeding structures or "houses" to collect food particles and discard and ...
In saltwater bodies, organic material breaks down and forms a marine snow. This example of detritus commonly consists of organic materials such as dead phytoplankton and zooplankton, the outer walls of diatoms and coccolithophores, dead skin and scales of fish, and fecal pellets. This material will slowly sink to the seafloor, where it makes up ...
Marine snow is organic material that has fallen from upper waters into the deep sea. [ 7 ] In 1960, the bathyscaphe Trieste descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench near Guam , at 10,911 m (35,797 ft; 6.780 mi), the deepest known spot in any ocean.
This organic material, sometimes called marine snow, sinks in the water column or is transported within downward convected water masses such as the Thermohaline Circulation. Hydrothermal vents also deliver heat and chemicals such as sulfide and methane. [13] These chemicals can be utilized to sustain metabolism by organisms in the region. [14]
The relative sparsity of primary producers means that the majority of organisms living in the abyssal zone depend on the marine snow that falls from oceanic layers above. The biomass of the abyssal zone actually increases near the seafloor as most of the decomposing material and decomposers rest on the seabed. [9]
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Marine snow varies in shape, size and character, ranging from individual cells to pellets and aggregates, most of which is rapidly colonized and consumed by heterotrophic bacteria, contributing to the attenuation of the sinking flux with depth.