Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology
Published on: November 5, 2014
Contribution of fish to the marine inorganic carbon cycle
R W Wilson1, F J Millero, J R Taylor
1School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4PS, UK. r.w.wilson@ex.ac.uk
Abstract:
Oceanic production of calcium carbonate is conventionally attributed to marine plankton (coccolithophores and foraminifera). Here we report that marine fish produce precipitated carbonates within their intestines and excrete these at high rates. When combined with estimates of global fish biomass, this suggests that marine fish contribute 3 to 15% of total oceanic carbonate production. Fish carbonates have a higher magnesium content and solubility than traditional sources, yielding faster dissolution with depth. This may explain up to a quarter of the increase in titratable alkalinity within 1000 meters of the ocean surface, a controversial phenomenon that has puzzled oceanographers for decades. We also predict that fish carbonate production may rise in response to future environmental changes in carbon dioxide, and thus become an increasingly important component of the inorganic carbon cycle.
More Related Videos
07:32Monitoring Pedogenic Inorganic Carbon Accumulation Due to Weathering of Amended Silicate Minerals in Agricultural Soils.
Published on: June 4, 2021
09:45Laboratory Simulation of an Iron(II)-rich Precambrian Marine Upwelling System to Explore the Growth of Photosynthetic Bacteria
Published on: July 24, 2016
Related Concept Videos
The Carbon Cycle
The Phosphorus Cycle
The Sulfur Cycle
Microbes and Other Elemental Cycles
Microbes and the Carbon Cycle
Metabolism of Chemolithotrophs