Fishes Contribute Roughly 1.65 Billion Tons of Carbon in Feces and Other Matter Annually
Published:23 Feb.2021 Source:Rutgers University
Scientists have little understanding of the role fishes play in the global carbon cycle linked to climate change, but a Rutgers-led study found that carbon in feces, respiration and other excretions from fishes -- roughly 1.65 billion tons annually -- make up about 16 percent of the total carbon that sinks below the ocean's upper layers.
Better data on this key part of the Earth's biological pump will help scientists understand the impact of climate change and seafood harvesting on the role of fishes in carbon flux, according to the study -- the first of its kind -- in the journal Limnology and Oceanography. Carbon flux means the movement of carbon in the ocean, including from the surface to the deep sea -- the focus of this study.