Research carried out in the Bahamas has informed new findings on the role fish play in the production of marine sediments:
The study was undertaken in The Bahamas, famous for its white carbonate sands and muds, where the preservation of such crystals in shallow sediments was predicted to be good.
Measurements made on fish that were local to The Bahamas yielded conservative estimates that they produce in excess of 6 million kg of carbonate each year across the region, equivalent to an estimated 14% of its total carbonate mud production.
To reach these findings, the team combined data on regional fish biomass in different marine habitats across The Bahamas with laboratory measurements of the production rates for a range of fish species from this region. These production estimates for fish were then compared against published rates of mud production.
The study reveals that fish guts are a direct source of the most fine-grained carbonate with individual crystals generally less than 30 micrometres (or 0.03 mm) in diameter.
These crystals are also produced in an incredibly diverse array of shapes similar to rugby balls, broccoli florets and dumbbells. Despite their small size, the volumes of carbonate produced by individual fish are so immense that this carbonate has direct relevance to understanding marine carbonate budgets.
Lead author Professor Chris Perry, a marine geoscientist at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “The recognition that fish can act as major producers of carbonate in the marine environments will be completely unexpected to a large section of the marine science community. Given how much carbonate these fish can produce, the findings also clearly have major implications for our understanding of different sources and sinks of carbonate sediment in the oceans and some exciting implications for understanding where much of the mud in limestones and chalks may derive from”.
Read more at physorg.com. The research paper is published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science; you can read the abstract (and the full article, if you have a subscription) here.
[Photo: Patrick Powers]
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Can you please identify the type of fish in the above picture. I have a similar picture and need to know what type of fish bit me as I was foolishly feeding them a peanut and butter sandwich, which they loved. I am getting a reaction to the bite even though I was treated with antiobiotics.
Thank you very much.