Tiny marine plants (phytoplankton) die or are eaten by tiny marine animals (zooplankton) which defecate into the water. All this detritus is sticky and agglomerates into heavier particles that sink. This epifluorescence micrograph of a stained gelatinous particle (about 200 microns in size) was harvested from a particle trap set 60 meters deep in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia, Canada, in 2009. Note individual microbial cells (about 0.5 to 2 microns in length) embedded in gelatinous material together with other plankton “hard parts.” (Photo by Tracy Mincer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)[back]
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