Fecal Pellets: Role in Sedimentation of Pelagic Diatoms

Abstract
Membrane-enclosed fecal pellets of planktonic herbivores were sampled at several depths in the Baltic Sea (459 meters deep) and off Portugal (4000 meters deep) by means of a Simonsen multinet. Pellets contained mainly empty shells of planktonic diatoms and silicoflagellates. Two kinds of fecal pellets were found, those with the remains of one species (for example, Thalassiosira baltica ) and those with the remains of several species (for example, Chaetoceros , Achnanthes , and Thalassiosira ). Siliceous skeletons were protected from dissolution during settling by a membrane around the pellet.

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