Abundance, encystment and sedimentation of acantharia during autumn 1990 in the East Greenland Sea

• Published in: Journal of Plankton Research
• Main Authors: Antia, Avan N., Bauerfeind, Eduard, Bodungen, Bodo v., Zeller, Ute
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1993
• Subjects: ORIGINAL ARTICLES; Greenland; East Greenland; Greenland Sea; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://plankt.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/15/1/99; https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/15.1.99

The abundance and sedimentation of acantharia and their cysts was recorded in the water column and sediment traps in the East Greenland Sea in August-September 1990. Although acantharia constituted <1% of total suspended particulate organic carbon (POC) in the water column, up to 90% (average 55%) of the POC sedimenting in 100 m was present in the form of acantharian cysts during a 9 day drift experiment. Rapid dissolution of strontium sulphate, of which their shells and spines are constructed, was evidenced by their disappearance with depth in the water column, maximum dissolution occurring between 500 and 1000 m water depth. Mass encystment and sedimentation of this single group of sarcodine protozoa can have dramatic effects on, the measurement of particulate fluxes in the open ocean, and may be a recurrent phenomenon in the eastern North Atlantic.