A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF CARBOHYDRATES IN MARINE PARTICULATE MATTER

Detailed profiles of organic carbon, organic nitrogen, carbohydrate and proteinous amino acid have been determined in particulate matter from various depths at a station in Sagami Nada off eastern Honshu, Japan. The profiles suggest that carbohydrate is decayed from particulate matter more rapidly than proteinous amino acid in the euphotic zone, while the latter is removed to a higher extent than the former in deep waters,which results in the increase of the C/N values of particulate matter in the depths. All of the particulate matter gave D-galactose, D-glucose, D-mannose, D-xylose and D-glucuronic acid upon acid hydrolysis. Vertical change of the monosaccharide composition of this particulate matter indicates that only D-glucose and its polymers are preferentially removed from it during its descent. Carbohydrates from the particulate matter of 20 m depth were fractionated into water-soluble and insoluble carbohydrates. Detailed analysis of these fractions indicates that 1,3-glucan and its related low molecular weight carbohydrates from the water-soluble fraction decay between 50 and 300 m depth, to leave waterinsoluble carbohydrates, immune to biological attack during the course of further sinking. On the basis of these facts, the effects of the biochemical nature of these carbohydrates on the vertical change of the particulate carbohydrate distribution are discussed. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.