Detritus

Detritus is dead particulate organic matter in the marine environment, including decaying plankton, plant fragments, fecal pellets, and the microbial and meiofaunal community that colonizes it. It forms the base of the detrital food web, channeling energy from primary production and external inputs to deposit feeders, filter feeders, and microbes. Sinking detritus, the biological pump component called marine snow, transports carbon from surface waters to the deep sea and seabed. On the bottom it fuels benthic communities and drives nutrient regeneration; its decay also consumes oxygen, contributing to hypoxia where organic loading is high.