MARINE SNOW IN ANTARCTIC COASTAL WATERS (17th Symposium on Polar Biology)

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Fragile macroscopic aggregates consisting of a matrix of non-living organic material and inhabited by prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms have been reported from many areas of the world's oceans. These aggregates, referred to as marine snow, are sites of enhanced biological activity. The abundance of marine snow in Antarctic coastal waters was investigated by using a video camera on a remotely operated vehicle in the 1991/92 summer. In the 1993/94 summer, marine snow was collected by divers in Kita-no-seto Strait near Syowa Station to investigate the species composition of the constituent organisms and their Enrichment Factor (denned as the concentration of organisms in marine snow divided by their concentration in the adjacent water devoid of marine snow). The abundance of marine snow aggregates >1 mm differed widely from <0.1 l^<-1> to >10 l^<-1>. Marine snow collected in mid January 1994 consisted principally of diatoms and mucilage derived from the sea-ice community while the collections made at the end of that month contained much colonial Phaeocystis. The Enrichment Factor was around 10 for bacteria and varied from around 200 to over 600 for eukaryotic protists. The abundance of polysaccharide-containing particles remained approximately constant during January and early February but the size of these particles increased during this time reflecting an increase in the abundance of large colonies of Phaeocystis.
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